e./f
TO PANAMA
AND BACK
THE RECORD OF AN EXPERIENCE
HENRY T. BYFORD, M. D.
W. B. CONKEY COMPANY
CHICAGO
I
il
COPYRIGHT, 1908,
BY
HENRY T. BYFORD, M. D.
:
DEDICATED
to the
Panama Canal Commissioners,
who invited the President of the United States
to run down and see them dig the Canal
while he waited;
and to the President,
/-*
who went to the Canal and found them asleep,
and didn't wait until it was dug.
o
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I
C=«TEE TO PANAMA
I CHICAGO TO NEW ORLEANS — PRINCIPALLY CHI-
CAGO 11
II GETTING OFF 23
III AT SEA 29
IV PORT LIMON 48
V COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 64
VI PANAMA 87
VII AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 100
VIII FOR DOCTORS ONLY 125
IX A SIESTA AND SUCH 136
X ABOUT TOWN 151
XI TOWN TOPICS 169
XII THE PAST AND THE PRESENT PANAMA 176
XIII NEW YEAR'S DAY AND THE SABANAS 184
XIV THE BULL-FIGHT.. 192
PART II
THE FOURTH PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
I THE OPENING OF THE CONGRESS 207
II BREAKFAST AND DINNER ON THE SAME DAY .... 220
III PANAMA BAY AND PARAMOUNT BARRETT 230
IV CONGRESS REDIVIVUS 241
V To SEE OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE Us 251
PART III
BACK
I ACCOMMODATIONS AT CoL6N 265
II SUNDAY AT COLON 273
III AFTER BANANAS AND ALLIGATORS 292
IV FROM BAD TO WORSE 309
V THE DIDACTICS OF SEASICKNESS 327
VI THE LAST DAY AT SEA AND THE FIRST ON LAND 335
VII TRAVELING NORTH BY WAY OF THE SOUTH 356
VIII DID You HAVE A PLEASANT TRIP? 375
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
MAP OP PANAMA 4
PANAMA FLAG 10
HUTS ON LINE OF PANAMA ROAD 82
ABANDONED MACHINERY OF THE FRENCH 84
ALONG PANAMA RAILROAD 86
IN PANAMA CITY 90
THE CATHEDRAL OF PANAMA AND CORNER OF THE PARK 92
OCEAN FRONT AT PANAMA 162
RUINS OF SANTO DOMINGO CHURCH 172
RUINED TOWER OF OLD PANAMA 178
CLUB HOUSE ON THE SABANAS 222
THE CONGRESS WAITING FOR LUNCH 224
TABOGA ISLAND 232
SQUARE IN CoL6N 266
WASHINGTON HOTEL, STREET FRONT, CoL6N 268
PATH LEADING ACROSS THE LAWN FROM WASHINGTON
HOTEL TO THE BEACH 270
CHRIST CHURCH AT CoL6N, SEEN FROM A CORNER OF
THE HOTEL 274
DE LESSEES PALACE AT CHRISTOBAL 276
MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS, CHRISTOBAL 278
COMBINATION STORE AND RESIDENCE AT BOCAS -DEL
TORO 288
A BUNCH OF BANANAS 296
TOUCAN, OR PREACHER BIRD 304
FOREWORD
When I made up my mind to go to Panama, I
could find no guide book. I had to depend for in-
formation upon the advertising matter of the United
Fruit Company, and upon the experience of a friend
who had spent a few days there on business and who
had seen nothing but swamps, rusty machinery, poly-
glot politicians and gesticulating foreigners. I had
no conception of what I was coming to, and had to
be content with the reflection that he who has no
books must learn by experience. On the other hand,
it occurred to me that by recording the main facts
and mental impressions of my trip, I might take the
reader with me in spirit and impart to him such knowl-
edge as would be of use to him if he went there, and
of interest if he stayed at home, for he who has no
experience must learn from books.
As a physician attending the Pan-American Med-
ical Congress, I felt that I was not competent to give
the accurate general information sometimes found in
guide books, and that I should be more concerned
with climate and disease than the average writer; but
on the other hand I hoped that, since my viewpoint
would differ somewhat from that of the general run
of writers, my impressions might not be unworthy of
7
g FOREWORD
record, and might contribute in their way to a better
understanding of the country and its customs.
Some readers will think that the book is too full
of appetizers and nightcaps, of diet and donnerwet-
ter, and they will be right. But this is so because the
narrative is honest and describes what was seen and
felt instead of what ought to have been, or might have
been, seen and felt. The busy majority care more
about what was than what ought to have been. What
was is truth; what ought to have been is fiction, and
the worst kind.
Many readers will conclude to wait until the Unit-
ed States has finished the reconstruction of the cli-
mate and country before going there, and will agree
with me in saying that traveling in the tropics, like
eating and sleeping, should be done at home. Indeed,
the absurdity of the notion that it is necessary to leave
home in order to study a guide book, should be taught
to our travel-stricken public. Quarantine, yellow
fever, yellow jaundice, black water fever, white swell-
ing, elephantiasis, ague, anemia, neurasthenia, berri-
berri, leprosy, dengue, dropsy, dysentery, drinking
habits, and dozens of other dread diseases and denoue-
ments lie in wait in the tropics. The romance of these
things does not consist in exposing oneself to them,
but in letting others do it, and of reading about it af-
terward.
PART I
TO PANAMA
PANAMA FLAG
PART I
CHAPTER I
Chicago to New Orleans — Principally Chicago
Chicago as a Starting Point and Business Center for Panama
— How Food is Manufactured — Chicago Modesty —
Report of the Commercial Club's Commission — Chicago
the Center of Culture — The Illinois Central — Southern
Surgical and Gynecological Society at Birmingham, the
Mushroom City — The Banquet — -Southern Hospitality
and Wit — Extracts from Letter Home — Insurance
Against Railway Accidents — The North Versus the
South — Unveiling of a Statue — The Hahnemann Statue
at Washington — New Orleans — Loss of Valuables — Over
Charge at Hotel — A Machine-made Clerk — An Original
Waiter — Southern Service — Southern Hospitality and
Conviviality — The Beer Cure — Old English Standard —
Comforting Reflection.
Those who wish to go to Panama should start from
Chicago, which is the most direct route to Panama.
In order to get there all one has to do is to go south ;
to return all one has to do is to come north. Chicago
is at one end, Panama at the other.
But Chicago is not only the natural starting place
for Panama, it is the natural business center of the
Panama Canal. Chicago sent a Chicago man to build
xx
12 TO PANAMA
the canal, another Chicago man to boss it, others to
plan it and others to provision it; and when the time
comes will be ready with schemes to run it. Chicago
believes that the canal must be constructed and con-
ducted on a dual plan, the interoceanic and the ali-
mentary— one for water and one for food. And she
not only has the courage of her convictions, but the
ability to assert them.
Unjust reflections have been cast upon the food
which Chicago kills, cures and puts up in cans for the
canal, and a word of explanation is necessary. It has
been intimated that packing-house boys and butchers
sometimes lose their footing and disappear so quickly
that they can not be recovered or recognized, or even
indicated on the labels. But these facts lack confirma-
tion and the packers deny them. They are things of
the past. Indeed, it was a Chicago man who demon-
strated to Congress that the food from all parts
of the country was fit neither for us nor for Pan-
ama. Thanks to his demonstrativeness, every-
body now knows that until then pepper berries were
made of tapioca kernels colored with lamp black ; that
preserved cherries were bleached with acid, colored
with poisonous aniline, and used to contaminate the
cocktails of our fathers and dye the hair and habits
of our mothers ; that the honey of our childhood was
made of dead bees embalmed in sulphurous glucose;
that Arabian coffee came from Brazil, and Italian
olive oil from Mississippi cotton fields; that fancy
liquors were made of ethyl alcohol and a chemical
filler; and that breakfast foods were underweight in
CHICAGO TO NEW ORLEANS 13
the package and overweight in the stomach. We now
know that there was neither a sneeze in the peppers
nor a stomach ache in the berries, and that the only
genuine full weight articles were the tin cans and
pasteboard boxes. We have learned that lamp black,
mineral acids, sulphite of soda, coal tar and other
embalmatives were used in the manufacture of our
popular delicatessen, that the manufacturers bought
them at forty dollars per ton in five-ton lots, and that
the United States supports from five to fifty times as
many doctors per capita as other countries do. All
this has become history, and a Chicago man made it.
And now that Chicago has built her own canal, she
is ready to give Uncle Sam the benefit of her unique
experience. She has made water flow uphill once, and
is ready to do it again. Chicago is always ready. She
was ready with Wallace and Shonts. When Bigelow
tried to paint the White House red, she was ready with
Stevens. But what was the use? Her ways and the
ways of Congress were different. Congress and the
people who trust Congress have been bent upon finding
fault and raising difficulties. Canal dirt and critical dif-
ficulties have been raised in equal quantities, but not
with equal facility. Well-meaning foreigners, who
work for the future and live in the past, advised a
sea-level canal, knowing that Americans are good at
making money and dirt fly, and that Chicago could
use the dirt to fill up Lake Michigan. Chicago has
known better all the time. The obviating of difficul-
ties and doubts is a Chicago idea. But Chicago is
not as yet appreciated; she must make herself heard.
i4 TO PANAMA
However, she has the modesty of youth, and can
wait. She who talks last, talks best. In the mean-
time she is deepening her own canal, and will soon
have navigable water between Chicago and Panama,
and the world is bound to know it. Her motto is,
Know Thyself ! — and she lives up to it.
The following resume of the report of the Com-
mercial Club's Panama commission appeared about
a year ago in the Chicago Tribune :
"The sanitary condition in the canal belt is perfect.
The house sanitation is above criticism.
"The work of building the canal is progressing with
rapidity.
"The labor is efficient, loyal and plentiful.
"The esprit de corps of the whole force under Engi-
neer Stevens was characterized as 'superb.'
"Organization of the working force is without a
flaw.
"All the climatic dangers have been eliminated by
the work of Dr. Gorgas, the sanitary expert.
"Panama has been transformed into as healthful a
place to live as any of the Southern states.
"The equipment for digging the canal is of the
highest type.
"The only criticism made by the various members
of the commission may be summed up as follows :
"There is need for more schools.
"There is need for more amusement for the work-
ing force.
"Too much of the food served to the diggers is
csined. Not enough fresh vegetables are served.
CHICAGO To NEW ORLEANS 15
"Although these were the only criticisms heard, the
members of the commission were not unanimous.
Several held the belief that the food supply could not
be improved. It was pointed out that the govern-
ment is erecting schools rapidly and that there is now
under construction several Y. M. C. A. buildings,
which will afford the needed recreation."
If that was so under Engineer Stevens, it is too
bad he did not stay down there to keep it so. I hope
that the Commercial Club commission were not mere
optimists; that they did not mistake entertainments
for attainments ; that the equatorial sun did not dazzle
their Northern eyes; that nature is not deceiving us
by a temporary show. The canal work needs Chicago
eyes.
Chicago is already recognized as the center of cul-
ture of the United States. Fredr. P. Fish, of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Boston
man, said at a banquet in Chicago:
"Chicago is on the culture center
For all time the Middle West as represented by Chi-
cago will remain the center. We must graft the
Western point of view on our Eastern ideas if we are
to progress." Surely a wise man and a prophet has
come out of the East.
As Chicago is "the culture center" of the United
States, the part she played at the last meeting of the
Pan-American Medical Congress is not without sig-
nificance. She sent the largest number of delegates of
any city or nation and, if we may believe the evidence
of their senses, ran the Congress. If she chooses she
t6 TO PANAMA
can organize a Pan-American Medical Congress all by
herself that will run itself. She can furnish all of the
scientific essays and discussions, the banquets and the
banqueters, the reputation and the reverberation and,
if necessary, the attendance and the talking.
However, to come back to where we started from,
the Illinois Central, -it was that Chicago railway which
provided the chief engineer who cut the red tape and
started a revolution in methods. He cut the Gordian
knot by cutting the whole business. The Illinois Cen-
tral was, of course, the best railway for me to take
for my trip to Panama, but as I was to attend the
Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association on
my way, my Chicago modesty suggested the patronage
of a Southern railway, which to my surprise gave me
as good a ride as the Illinois Central gives. The only
fault I found with it was that its express trains were
too accommodating.
FOR DOCTORS ONLY.
The association met at the interesting and mush-
room-growing, mining and manufacturing center,
Birmingham, Ala., the "New City of the New South,"
where men and money are said to make each other —
doing it by modern methods, and in large quantities.
In this Chicago of the South I hoped to get some
pointers on medical, surgical and social customs and
curatives appropriate to Southern climates, prepara-
tory to trusting myself in the deadly tropics, where
water is laden with germs, the air full of infection and
meat is spoiled before it is fit to eat.
CHICAGO TO NEW ORLEANS 17
And I was not disappointed in my expectations, for
the profession of Birmingham, in return for the heavy
feast of science afforded by the visitors, gave us a ban-
quet which put our Northern idealizations and realiza-
tions to shame. It was celebrated in the immense
square banquet hall of Hotel Hillman. The tables were
placed around the room near the walls, leaving a
square space in the center about forty feet in diameter
decorated to represent the Vale of Cashmere. This
space was adorned with immense prostrate mirrors for
water, a profusion of tubs of tropical plants for islands,
electric flashlights above for twinkling stars, and the
expansive toastmaster's face at one side to repre-
sent the rising full moon. The flowers and lights
and reflections in the central space, bordered by the
ornate and sumptuously provisioned tables, constituted
one of the most beautiful and intoxicating sights and
experiences of the kind I had ever seen and partaken
of, and led to the most exuberant five hours' flow of
wit and humor of which I have any personal knowl-
edge.
The toastmaster was a physician who had developed
into a politician and post-prandial celebrity, and who
made witty speeches enough to render the occasion
memorable, even if no one had responded to his toasts.
He infused his political inversion and irresponsibil-
ity of speech into the minds of those upon whom he
called, so that the most solemn and scientific of our
Northern laboratory plodders and surgical experts
mixed the most unexpected and absurd exaggeration
into their carefully prepared scientific and soporific
1 8 TO PANAMA
remarks. They forgot to be instructive and became en-
tertaining.
Even the Irish were outclassed. Hereafter I shall
always speak of our Southern wit and humor as the
most spontaneous and exuberant in the world. The
North is witty because it is partly Irish, the South is
wittier because it is entirely American.
FOR WOMEN ONLY.
Extract from Letter Home.
Wednesday, Dec. 13, 1904.
MY DEAR :
The scientific exercises have just concluded and
before dressing for the banquet I will make use of the
few moments between the diurnal reading and the
nocturnal eating of articles, to inform you that you
have lost five thousand dollars. Whenever I have
insured my life before trusting my fate to the reckless
railway management which this country cultivates,
and which costs from one to two lives a day in demon-
strating how two trains can occupy the same space
at the same time, I have found that my life has been
spared and my estate has lost the six thousand dollars
of insurance money for which I had contracted and
paid. I have survived so often that I am beginning to
have faith in the insuring method as a life preserver.
I know of nothing else that has protected me from the
ax of those public executioners facetiously called rail-
ways. If the government would only give attention to
the regulation of railway accidents as it does to the
regulation of railway rates, some good might be done.
Railway rates are simply ruinous ; railway recklessness
is simply regretable.
I am well, excepting a stiffness and soreness in my
left ankle, which reminds me that I got away just in
CHICAGO TO NEW ORLEANS 19
time from the frozen North, where people eat and
freeze too much and get rheumatism and appendicitis,
to visit the Sunny South, where people eat and drink
too much and get rheumatism and appendicitis. In
the North we think that the cold makes us healthy and
hardy, while in the south people think that appetizers
and night-caps keep them healthy and happy. And I
am temporarily inclined to think that the Southerners
must be half right, for my ankle is getting better al-
ready.
After a most interesting session devoted to the dis-
cussion of obscure and difficult scientific facts and
fancies, the society adjourned to the public park to
unveil the statue of the late Wm. Elias Davis, the
eminent Birmingham surgeon who founded the
Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association. It
is the second statue that has been erected to a private
individual in Alabama, and is also about the second
attempt of the kind by our profession in the United
States, the statue of the signer of the Declaration of
Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush, at Washington
being the first. There is also at Washington a statue
of Hahnemann, the originator of the once popular
fad, homeopathy, placed there by a few fad fellows
before they faded out.
But it is growing dark and the band is playing and
the festivities are about to begin. We must eat and
drink and get merry, which is the lot of the living.
FOR CHILDREN ONLY.
Extract from Letter Home.
NEW ORLEANS, Saturday, Dec. 17, 1904.
Here I am in "Ne Awleens," where Creoles and
crocodiles grow. At least, here is all that is left of
me. Umbrella, railroad ticket, handkerchief, necktie
fastener, appetite, digestion, etc., were lost on the way.
20 TO PANAMA
My valise was carried away in my car, which was
quietly detached from the train at Montgomery while
I was walking about the station hunting for my appe-
tite. However, I inquired and ran about and caught
the runaway car and recovered my bag and my appe-
tite, but not my umbrella. An honest umbrella does
not exist. Who remembers ever having had a lost
one come back, or a found one go back? My return
ticket was taken up by the conductor at bedtime but
was not returned to me in the morning when I arrived
in Birmingham. It was discovered on the floor in
the train, and left at the ticket office at New Orleans
by a stranger. New Orleans has one more hon-
est man than our other large cities, which are dis-
eased spots on the earth's surface, where human para-
sites predominate.
However, the railway officials are not the only
absent-minded men in the South. The hotel clerk at
Birmingham charged me for four days instead of two.
I should merely have considered the hotel a high-
priced one had not a friend told me that he had been
charged for three days instead of two. But after
being corrected, my bill was as much too small as at
first it was too large. The clerk was made in Bir-
mingham where everything is done by machinery. To
get the best service it was necessary to know how to
run him. He was one of those original characters who
do everything differently — and indifferently.
When I went to breakfast the morning after the
banquet, I ordered nothing but coffee and rolls. The
negro waiter, who was another original, evidently
had also been up late the night before, for when I
gave my order he gaped frightfully, and I dodged.
He filled it (not his mouth) correctly, but took it to
a fat man at the next table, who had ordered a real
American breakfast and who scorned to accept mere
coffee and rolls, although he looked as if he needed
CHICAGO TO NEW ORLEANS 21
much less breakfast than I did. I then ordered a
glass of water without any ice in it, and this was also
taken to the large gentleman, who was an ice drinker
and refused it. When I had drunk my coffee, glanced
at my rolls and paid my bill, my change also went to
the stranger; but it also was not enough for him. If
I had ordered a large breakfast and had thus made
the waiter work, or if I had carried a pistol within
sight, he would probably have brought things to me
when he forgot to whom they belonged. He bore me
no ill-will, however. He was a good waiter, as are
all Southern waiters, if only one knows how to keep
them awake and interested, and excuse mistakes. I
think we will have to send some of our colored wait-
ers from the North down there.
The Southerners are, however, far ahead of us in
hospitality, and it is in keeping with this virtue that
they drink too often. I do not think that they drink
for the sake of drinking, as often as do many of our
Northern indulgers, nor do they often drink to get
drunk. They drink to be hospitable and encourage
one another and whet their appetite. Whether they
are thus socially farther advanced than we, and we
will follow them, or whether the comparatively large
percentage of abstainers in the North is an advance,
and they will follow us, is a conundrum. I suppose
that they really drink out of conservatism. To ab-
stain would be too radical a change. If liquor could
have been emancipated with the slaves and sent over
the border to Canada, where they use it to warm their
toes and melt their tongues, it would have been better
for the South and for us. Perhaps the increase in
the consumption of beer in the United States may be-
come our salvation. It means less alcohol and less
drunkenness, more gemutlichkeit and less strenuous
conviviality, more hobnob livers and fewer concrete
kidneys.
22 TO PANAMA
There is hope, however, for Southerner and North-
erner and Canadian if we may credit an observation
of Sydney Smith, made in England a hundred years
ago. While speaking of the improvements he had ob-
served during his lifetime he said:
"I forgot to add . . . that even in the best
society one third of the gentlemen at least were always
drunk."
The following quotation of Edward Eggleston is
taken from an editorial in American Medicine, Janu-
ary 27, 1906:
"It was estimated early in the eighteenth century
that about one building in every ten in Philadelphia
was used in some way for the sale of rum, and in
Massachusetts, Governor Belcher was afraid that the
colony would 'be deluged with spirituous liquors/ "
How comforting for us to know that our ancestors,
from a temperance standpoint, were worse than we
are, and that our children in the natural course of
events will be better than we are.
CHAPTER II
Getting Off
The United Fruit Company's Ships — Delay — Brushing up
in Spanish — Getting off — The Musical Engineer — Spil-
ling Soup — Threatened Arson — A Resolve Never to Take
Too Much Liquor Again — The Pilot — Four Miles in Two
Hours — The Captain's Wink — Chicago as a Joke — The
Jetty — Unexhilarating Speed — The Zigzag Habit.
From New Orleans the United Fruit Company sends
a steamer every week to Colon and Bocas del Toro, in
Panama, and one to Port Limon, in Costa Rica. Most
of the boats are small and better adapted to the ac-
commodation and comfort of bananas than of human
beings. However, those who are poor sailors can,
by arranging dates and taking one of the large (?)
ships, get to Panama almost as comfortably as from
New York, and in a little over half the time. If one
is a good equilibrist and loves solitude, there is even
an advantage in taking one of the smaller fruit boats,
for they ordinarily have so few passengers that one
has almost the whole boat to oneself — and needs it.
Mr. M. J. Dempsey, the traffic manager at New Or-
leans of the United Fruit Company, was very accom-
modating and painstaking, both in corresponding with
me and in placing me after I arrived at New Orleans.
The company is better than its boats.
83
24 TO PANAMA
Having missed the Friday boat for Colon, I made
the best of my misfortune by feasting on fresh oys-
ters, French cafe-au-lait and French water-rolls. In
fact, I was benefited by the short delay, as the S. S.
Limon, the newest and largest in the service, sailed
on Monday morning directly for Port Limon, offering
me an opportunity of visiting San Jose, the capital of
Costa Rica, the so-called Paris of Central America,
and of avoiding the crowd of doctors who were going
later. In this case I was particularly anxious to avoid
the otherwise congenial crowd, because I wanted to
get away from English-speaking people during the
four or five days on the water. Thus I would have a
chance to brush up my Spanish by being forced to
speak it to the Central American passengers, the offi-
cers, steward, sailors, etc. I would then be better
prepared to converse with the South American doc-
tors. But when I went aboard I found that the S. S.
Limon was an old Glasgow ship with a new name, and
had a Canadian captain and Jamaican crew. The
passengers were all Americans and English, and I
was the only one on board who could speak, or cared
to speak, a word of Spanish. I was, therefore, obliged
to brush up my Spanish without a brush.
We got off at ii A. M. There were several pas-
sengers standing about on deck gazing listlessly at the
negroes on the dock, — but not a friend of any of us
could be seen, not a smile or wave of hand or flutter
of handkerchief. It seemed quite doleful not even to
see a friend or relative of some one else.
The only incident that varied the monotony came
GETTING OFF 25
near being an accident. It was the arrival of one of
the engineers, who was a man of unusually refined
features for one in his station of life, but who was in
such a happy state of mind that had it not been for
the assistance of his peers he would have walked off
the gangplank into the water, for he took two steps
and stoops sideways to every one forward. He was
softly singing, "For to-night we'll merry, merry be;
to-morrow we'll be shober." I felt relieved when I
saw that he was safely aboard where liquor was not
sold, and I realized for the first time what a great
blessing ships were to sailors. As soon as he was
safely over the gangplank he straightened up and
said, "I'm the besht eng'neer aboard. I can run an
engine better'n I can walk a plank. I've been drink-
ing like the but I'm not drunk. I'm a Christian
scientist, I am. I only think I'm drunk (hie)."
About an hour afterward as I was wandering about
exploring the ship, I came across him balancing him-
self along on his way from the kitchen to the mess
room, carrying a big iron pot of greasy soup and spill-
ing it liberally. Upon seeing me, he smiled blandly
and said:
"Good shoup this, ain't it?"
"Yes, I see it is. If you can eat that you're all
right."
"Oh, I'm aw right (hie) !" he said, as he allowed
about a pint of the soup to spill upon the deck. "It's
the shoup that's gone wrong. It's half seas over aw-
ready."
After a moment's pause he began again: "Is this
your firsht trip to the tropics?"
26 TO PANAMA
"Yes, I want to see them before I die."
"Better wait till you die. It's a — 11 of a place for
a live man. I'm going to set the ship on fire at five
o'clock. I've been drinking, but I'm as shober as
blue blazes now, and I'm going to shelebrate — she-
(hic)elebrate."
Seeing my chance to do some missionary work, I
asked him why he didn't join a temperance club, and
thus relieve himself of all temptation to drink.
"No club for me, sir. Had enough clubbing when
I's a boy. Rather be hit by a cocktail. W'iskey's the
life of temper'nce clubs. Keeps 'em going (hie).
W'iskey causes more good resolutions than bad ones —
makes people wish to be better. An' what's better'n
that?"
He stopped talking and stood grinning at me as I
moved slowly away and faintly returned his smile. I
then and there resolved never to take too much liquor
again in any form. All men should sign the pledge
before they die, as I expect to do. But as it was, I
feared I might never have a chance to drink anything
but Mississippi River water after five o'clock, when
the ship was to burn. However, I calculated that
since we would not be out of the river and away from
land until six or seven o'clock, which would be from
one to two hours after the fire, we could all save our-
selves with life-preservers. So I went to my state-
room and finding that my life-preservers had real
cork in them, instead of old-fashioned pig-iron, tied
one to my valise and two to my trunk. Then I went
back on deck and, being prepared for the danger, soon
forgot all about it.
GETTING OFF 27
After speeding around many river-bends for two
hours we went down to lunch, and the pilot, who ate
with us, told us among other things that we were just
four miles from New Orleans, across country. I
told him not to hurry so, but to remember that "the
more haste the less speed ;" that on the Chicago River
we would have traveled many miles in two hours, and
that in Chicago we could walk faster than this boat ran ;
we could walk four miles in one hour. The pilot
thought that I was in earnest and winked at the
captain, who was of English descent and knew that a
wink meant a joke. So he winked at both of us, and
asked no questions. I afterward learned that the
mention of Chicago was the joke they meant.
Although it was the third week of December, the
shores were green and the scenery was interesting all
the way, and the weather was warm enough to enable
us to enjoy it. The delta presented the appearance
of numerous small lakes with strips of meadow land
between them, instead of branching streams as marked
on the maps. We saw some fine plantations and a fine
herd of cattle. Indeed, the district appeared to be
an ideal one for raising cattle, as grass and water
were plentiful, shelter unnecessary and fences super-
fluous.
Soon after six o'clock we came to the outlet which
was indicated by a jetty on our left and the open sea
ahead. The jetty was a pier built where the current
could strike it and hollow out its own channel, the
same as it does all along the river when it strikes the
banks at the bends. A lighthouse and searchlight
28 TO PANAMA
were, of course, on the end of the pier, which was a
much smaller and simpler structure than I had con-
sidered necessary. The simple device was, as usual,
the successful one.
The pilot got off here, but stopped and shook hands
with me, and asked if I had enjoyed the ride. He told
me that we had made one of the quickest runs to the
mouth of the river on record for a fruit boat. I said :
"As far as I've got I can't conscientiously say that I
am exhilarated by the speed. Bananas that want to
ripen while they ride can't complain, however. The
river takes two dips sideways to every one forward
like the best engineer who came aboard half seas over,
and I can't comprehend how a man as sober and
steady as you seem to be can keep the ship going that
way without forgetting himself at times and letting it
take a straight and proper step or two occasionally
and run into the shore."
"Well, it's this way," he answered. "We become
so accustomed to the zigzag course that zigzagging
becomes a habit, and we find it hard to keep straight."
"Yes," I said, "and the engineers are acquiring
the zigzag habit, too."
As I did not bring in Chicago he didn't see any joke.
CHAPTER III
At Sea
The Weather — Packing the Stomach — A Diatribe on Cooks
and Cooking — Uncooked Food as a Diet — Survival of
the Fittest — New England Diet — First Impressions and
Facts — The Passengers — The Englishman — A Phantom
Laugh — The Stewardess — Beef Tea — A Recreation
Famine — The Universal Enjoyment — An Old English
Table d'Hote— White Ducks and Rain— Highballs and
High Life— Bad Effects of Water— A Temperate Cap-
tain and Crew — Scenery and Poetry — How People Get
What They Want — The Southern Cross and Others —
Advice.
FROM DIARY.
Tuesday, December 2Oth. — Smooth sea. Weather
cool but pleasant. The temperature at New Orleans
was about twenty degrees Fahrenheit warmer than
at Chicago, and this afternoon is nearly ten degrees
warmer than it was at New Orleans yesterday. We
are headed almost due south and expect soon to
breathe the balmy air of the Caribbean Sea. It is so far
a pleasant winter experience to wake up each morning
and find the air about ten degrees warmer than on the
day before.
What a change from busy Chicago life it is to have
nothing to do all day long but read novels and talk
small talk, and linger leisurely over one's meals with
29
30 TO PANAMA
strangers gathered together from various parts of
Anglo-Saxondom. We lingered over the food to-day
until we had eaten enough for two dinners. It was
not that we felt the need of a double dinner, but
largely out of a subconscious imitation of each other.
When among eaters do as eaters do, is the philosophy
of it. There is no place where people enjoy and un-
derstand the packing and filling up of their adjustable
and dilatable stomachs better than on shipboard. When
they pack their trunks and bags they do not overload
them, for they know that there is danger of straining
or bursting them, and they do not wet and soak things
down in their trunks in order to make them pack
tighter, as they do in their stomachs. They know
that the stomach, which was not made by hands, will
not burst.
But eating can not unfortunately be made to fill in
the whole of our time, even on shipboard and with
saltwater appetites. If we had four stomachs, like a
cow, and could devote all of our time either to eating,
or the chewing of cuds, how simple life would become
for many of us. Idle men would be kept from mis-
chief and idle women from worry. Our enjoyment
would be simple and continual, sanitary and convivial.
However, our mode of living and the economy of our
functions are such that we can not utilize much bulky
nourishment, as do our bovine models, whose heads
and limbs are mere appendages to their stomachs ; and
our methods of preparing food are such that we do
not have to do the work with our teeth. We thus lose
much of the benefit as well as harmless pleasure that
AT SEA 31
animals derive from the preparation of their own
meals. Our lips are shrinking and our jaws degen-
erating for want of work.
There is much to be said in favor of doing your
cooking in your own mouth. Mouths are often the
most unclean of cavities, yet who would not rather
trust his own mouth than the methods of the average
kitchen blunderer with her germ-laden, all-invading
hands, tasting spoons, wandering hairs, dusty dishes,
coughs, colds, salt rheums, etc. No one has seen the
cook drinking out of the water bottle, tasting the food,
and handling the salt, the dough, the waste-pail, the
dish cloth, the berries and the bread with fingers that
are licked instead of being washed every time she
handles these things and her hair, but would wish to
possess the jaw and juices of an animal to enable him to
save the wages, waste and culinary wantonness of a
cook; and avoid the appendicitis, gastric ulcer, fer-
mentation, diabetes, Bright's disease, entero-colitis
and acid fermentation that have developed with the
development of the art of eating. Modern cooking
is a bold and unscrupulous attempt to create, by means
of variously flavored, complicated mixtures, a desire
for artificial food, instead of depending upon a nat-
ural appetite for a few simple articles, such as exists
throughout the animal kingdom where irresponsible
cooks have not interfered.
It is an open question whether the human system
is not adapted to the consumption of much more un-
cooked food than is at present allowed, and whether
the cooking in many instances does not destroy fer-
3* TO PANAMA
ments that aid digestion, and does not thus render the
digestion of foods more difficult or imperfect. Fresh
raw milk is more nourishing and more easily digested
by normal digestive organs than cooked milk, and this
is true of eggs, oysters, beef, cheese, tomatoes, but-
ter, etc. Celery, radishes, cucumbers, cresses, pars-
ley, asparagus, onions, honey, fresh and dried fruits,
nuts, aromatics, ripe olives, olive oil, smoked and
dried meats, besides many other herbs and fruits that
are habitually eaten raw in warm and tropical coun-
tries, ought to enter more extensively into our diet
and be made to greatly reduce the amount of kitchen
mixtures that now tempts us toward an overfed ane-
mia, dyspeptic insomnia, toxic obesity and premature
death. The above mentioned foods constitute an am-
ple dietary for the average individual. By cooking
we aim to facilitate and quicken the digestion of food,
and render it more complete, forgetting that a larger
amount of undigested debris might maintain a more
normal action of the intestines.
Food kept for consumption in the winter time in
cold climates, or in arid districts far away from its
production, would in part require cooking, but that
made of grains could be prepared at laboratories in
a dry, unchangeable, sterile form, while some of the
animal and fatty foods could be partly predigested
and preserved for invalids. In fact, a diet could be
planned that would render the kitchen unnecessary
except as a place to make ready a hot drink or to
warm food already prepared and preserved according
to the dictates of science instead of by the art of
AT SEA 33
uneducated, uncultured, unclean, bad-tempered, hap-
hazard cooks.
The political crime of 1890 was the putting of sugar
on the free list. It was a covert attack upon the
women and children of the country by rendering it
easier for them to slowly poison themselves i. e., to
sweeten themselves to death. A relish for sweets has
been given man to lead him to eat fruits and to chew
his starchy food until it develops that sweet taste
which indicates beginning digestion. It is this relish
for sweet that leads herbivorous animals to chew their
food so thoroughly. That a taste for sweets is not
intended to lead people to eat artificial sweets is evi-
dent from the fact that, excepting honey, which is
meant for bees, there is no such concentrated sweet
as sugar to be found in nature. But man began to
extract the sugar from the sugar cane, the beet and
the grape and eat it in large quantities in its concen-
trated, unnatural form, and to put it in food that,
without it, would not be relished, and which, there-
fore, should not be eaten until hunger gave its relish.
As a consequence he has become the victim of salt
rheums, pimples, hives and other agonies of itching
and ugliness.
Sugar is the devil conjured by man to entertain his
sweetheart or wife, and keep his children quiet. Sug-
ar is the serpent of a civilized Eden. He corrupts
the human body before it is developed, and after. He
squanders the pocket money and perverts the appe-
tite of the fairer half of humanity, until it thinks that
it would starve without his support, and refuses to
3
34 TO PANAMA
nourish itself without his aid. Let him be banished
from the public view and be locked up again in the
cane and the beet where he can be enjoyed only in
harmless attenuations and in digestible quantities. A
little of the devil goes a great way. Too much of him
breeds disease and doctors to condemn and conduct
us to the grave.
But the self-denial of such a return to nature and
abandonment of the pleasure of eating a variety of
complicated, fancifully flavored and abnormally
tempting food mixtures is hardly to be expected of a
gastronomically perverted humanity. Humanity
knows enough to tempt itself, and it will do so. The
rapidly multiplying wealthy class has the means of
over-indulging itself, and will make use of them, and
the common lot will follow suit. Deterioration, de-
generation and individual extinction will be the logi-
cal result. Survival of the fittest thus becomes a mat-
ter of appetite. To kill oneself by degrees within the
three-score-and-ten is becoming the easiest and most
agreeable of occupations; much easier and more en-
joyable than slowly dieting oneself to death, as Luigi
Cornaro did at the age of 103 years. He ate but little
here below, but ate that little long.
There are many who believe that what is generally
adopted as a custom by the mass of the people must
be right, and that since we have been eating as we
now do for a long time, and are longer lived than
formerly, we should continue doing so. Apropos of
this I will quote from the writings of Volney, a
Frenchman who traveled in the United States seventy
years ago:
AT SEA 35
"I will venture to say that if a prize were proposed
for the scheme of a regimen most calculated to injure
the stomach, the teeth and the health in general, no
better could be invented than that of Americans. In
the morning at breakfast, they deluge their stomach
with a quart of hot water, impregnated with tea, or
slightly so with coffee, that is mere colored water;
and they swallow, almost without chewing, hot bread,
half-baked toast soaked in butter, cheese of the fattest
kind, slices of salt or hung beef, ham, etc., all of which
are nearly insoluble. At dinner, they have boiled
pastes under the name of puddings, and the fattest
are esteemed the most delicious ; all their sauces, even
for roasted beef, are melted butter; their turnips and
potatoes swim in lard, butter, or fat; under the
name of pumpkin pie their pastry is nothing but a
greasy paste, never sufficiently baked; to digest these
substances they take tea almost instantly after dinner,
making it so strong that it is absolutely bitter to the
taste, in which state it affects the nerves so powerfully
that even the English find it brings on more obstinate
restlessness than coffee. Supper again introduces salt
meats or oysters. As Chastelux says, the whole day
passes in heaping indigestions on one another; and
to give tone to the poor, relaxed and wearied stom-
ach, they drink Madeira rum, French brandy, gin or
malt spirits, which complete the ruin of the nervous
system."
Man seems to be the only animal that doesn't know
how to eat. But as we have apparently eaten without
knowing how, and have been dyspeptic for the seven-
36 TO PANAMA
ty years since Volney wrote, and probably for seven-
ty years before that, why not eat in this way and re-
main dyspeptic for the next seventy years? We have
been dyspeptic so long that proper food and normal
function might prove a disastrous change of environ-
ment to our stomachs. Innovations are apt to prove
dangerous. Let us be conservative, and do right with
caution. This precocious, overgrown, youthful coun-
try needs above all to be conservative, and above all
wants conserves.
But since the agreeable gustatory occupation of
doing the cooking in nature's individual kitchen is
denied us, we passengers are at the mercy of the ship's
cook. I wonder how clean he and his materials are.
And as the process of swallowing and washing down
his mixtures can not be made to occupy all of our wak-
ing hours, we will have to sandwich in a few games
of cards, a few cotillions, cigars, siestas and, at ap-
propriate times, a few turns of mal-de-mer.
Wednesday, December 2ist. — How different stran-
gers often are from the first impression they
make upon us. If we revealed ourselves upon first
sight just as we really are in this democratic coun-
try, in which the poor are rich and the rich poor,
according to the mutations of the markets, and where
we can not always distinguish a Brahmin from a
blowhard, we would be quickly divided into social
castes, and would find new levels. Even in tra-
ditional monarchies a large proportion of the nobility
are Brahmins by birth only. The fabric of society
is woven out of lies, for lies are not words pronounced
AT SEA
37
but impressions produced. In fact, all the world's a
lie, and men and women play their parts therein. The
word falsehood is merely the name for a feminine
fabric which conceals the hair that nature made to
conceal the head. Our customs encourage false
hoods, false hair, false teeth and false modesty, for
who would marry a person without hood, hair, teeth
or modesty? Better dead than without them. Better
to have lived and lied than not to have lied at all.
All of the passengers of the S. S. Limon are first-
class liars, I mean first-impression liars, like the rest
of the world. I have constructed two descriptive
columns to show the impression they produced upon
me at the first meal and the facts as I have since
learned them.
First Impression.
Captain is an English-
man.
An Englishman and his
wife traveling for
pleasure, probably on
their honeymoon.
American army captain
going to some post in
the tropics with his
wife.
Facts.
Captain is a Canadian.
Englishman with wife
returning to Costa
Rica, where he is in
business. Married many
years.
Insurance agent and cap-
tain of militia going to
Costa Rica to look after
mining interests. Is
president and organizer
of the company.
38 TO PANAMA
First Impression. Facts.
Emaciated young man Relative of insurance
traveling for his health. agent and secretary of
Either a dyspeptic or mining company,
consumptive. Starved from overeat-
ing.
A Spaniard going to his An engineer with a Scotch
tropical home with his brogue, superintending
daughter, a dark young a new ice plant just put
lady. in the ship. No relation
to dark young lady,
who is the lady's maid
of the wife of the
Englishman.
We also have at the table a young American who
is a clerk in the offices of the United Fruit Company
at Port Limon, the second mate and the purser. The
English couple and the insurance agent have been in
the tropics before and have learned not to drink ship
water or Central American water, and keep the two
waiters busy bringing beer, wine, highballs, Apolli-
naris water and ginger ale, somewhat to the incon-
venience of the rest of us who have to -await the
return of the waiters with these articles before we
can be served with our food.
The Englishman sits in a corner of the smoking-
room and smokes a pipe after each meal. While
smoking these three pipefuls, which seem to be his
daily allowance, he studies American history out of
Winston Churchill's novel, "The Crossing." He is
AT SEA 39
one of those practical Englishmen who believe that
he who laughs last laughs best. He asked me this
morning why the United States did not keep Cuba
when she first had her; and I could not convince
him that it was neither expedient nor honorable to
annex the island at that time. In fact, before we got
through with our discussion I felt like apologizing
to him for our honorable action in the matter, for
doing our duty as we saw it. The English believe
in our duty as they see it. He considered our dealings
with Cuba as a huge American joke, a subject for
the pen of a Mark Twain or a W. W. Jacobs, and that
a keener sense of humor would have saved us from
the mistake.
Thursday, December 22nd. — We have three flesh
and blood visible ladies aboard, and a stewardess.
A stewardess usually passes for flesh and blood
also. This one, however, is a sort of phantom
lady who is always heard, but seldom seen. Until
this morning she was nothing but a laugh. She
had not, to my personal knowledge, been seen on
deck. She, however, had frequently made herself
known by her laugh which every once in a while
would ring out, or rather up, from below like a
chime of tiny bells started by the wind, and making
melody because they couldn't help it. When we
feel well we are stirred up by the laugh and feel
like joining in, but when the waves are swinging our
heads around, it sounds unnatural and phantom-like,
and strikes an unsympathetic chord in our pneumo-
gastric nerve fibers. I had heard the laugh many
40 TO PANAMA
times and had enjoyed it until this morning, when I
was lying back in my steamer chair practicing Chris-
tian Science without any comfort. Every few moments
the ship would give a lurch, and so nearly turn over
that it seemed as if it could not right up, and the
ladies would say o-oh ! and the phantom laugh would
be heard coming up from below. I took to shutting
my dizzy eyes and saying mentally : "Go over, if you
wish, old banana box! If only my stomach will keep
right side out until we go down and I become uncon-
scious!— Laugh on, young lady! It's all right for an
invisible stewardess who hasn't any nerves in her
stomach (if she has one) and nothing but haw-haws
in her brain (if she has one) to laugh, for I can't help
it. But even Solomon said that there was a time to
laugh and a time not to laugh."
While I was thus moralizing the laugh suddenly
appeared on deck in coiffe and corset, smiling and
balancing airily while the ship tried to dump it over-
board. It was a white-aproned, pink-skinned, flaxen-
haired, pleb-featured apparition, as plump and un-
phantom-like as flesh and blood with a cockney ac-
cent could be. It was searching for sick women, and
immediately spied me. It stopped and said:-
" 'Ave you 'ad any breakfast, sir?"
"Yes," I said, "I have had breakfast all of my life,
thank you."
"Won't you 'ave a cup of beef tea, sir? It works
like a charm."
"No, thank you. I don't want anything that will
work. You give us plenty to eat, but you don't keep
AT SEA 41
it down. Dieting is the best thing for ship food. I
was told to diet several years ago, and I wish I'd
done it. The opportunity has come now."
It smiled at me as if I was a spoiled child, and
balanced about among the ladies in a way that made
my head swim, until finally it disappeared.
In a little while it sent up a cup of beef tea by the
shuffling, cross-eyed, colorless, albino-haired, cockney
steward. The stuff looked good, however, and I
braced up and drank the health of the flower of the
English meadows that had blossomed on the beauti-
ful land and now bloomed on the blooming sea, and
felt better. The beef tea suffered no harm, and I no
longer wished to be thrown overboard. In fact, with-
in two hours afterward I went down to the dining-
room and ate leather and doepaste, and drank luke-
warm mud-decoction with a favorable termination.
Friday, December 23rd. — We arrive at Port Limon
to-morrow morning, and so far no Spanish lessons,
no cotillions, no cake-walks, no negro minstrels, no
shuffle-board, no music, not even poker or pools on
the daily run ; nothing doing but the moonlight tete-a-
tetes of the United Fruit Company's clerk from
Limon and the lady's maid from London. He evi-
dently regards her as edible. Watching them with
parental interest and sympathetic reminiscence is the
only recreation we have had except eating at odd
meals when Neptune happened to be napping. Per-
haps it is youth rather than opportunity that we lack,
for as people grow older they lose the cleverness and
skill as well as the illusions necessary for the enjoy-
42 TO PANAMA
ment of the recreations of their youth, except in eat-
ing. The enjoyment of eating, illusions and all, be-
longs to all ages and all animals. It constitutes the
first evidence of our animal intelligence and the last
senile flourish of our physical nature. When all other
incentives to enjoyment and hilarity are gone for-
ever, people can laugh and joke over their food like
children. Having consumed the spirits of youth
they resort to the spirits of wine, and the result is
a brilliant flicker.
It is interesting to watch a small party of English
people of uncertain age and social station at a Con-
tinental table d'hote dinner, as I once had the pleas-
ure of doing: —
At soup a fortified and funereal quiet and, to the
young and frivolous table-d'hoters about them, an
apparently reproachful demeanor, a social asceticism.
Such dignity and decorum as is found only among
the English, whose recreations and social functions
are formal duties.
Over the fish, occasional premeditated remarks such
as courtesy demands, and a solemn sipping of wine
at appropriate intervals.
Over the third course, slight relaxation of features
and small bits of conversation, interspersed with
more frequent and informal sipping of wine.
Over the fourth course, much less modulation of
voice and considerable talking, with an occasional
easily comprehended joke followed by generous ap-
plause. General emptying of bottles and drinking
of toasts. A touch of nature makes the whole room
grin.
AT SEA 45
Over dessert, frequent flashing of fire-cracker jokes
extinguished in laughter. A leaning over cordiality
and unrestrained communicativeness regardless of
appearances. An astonishing climax of gayety. The
tables are turned. Foreigners grow silent and look
on with wonder.
Disappearance of ladies and retirement of the men
to the smoking-room or porches for a congenial ex-
change of confidences and a forgetfulness of cares and
responsibilities. Social mellowness slowly hardening
back into desiccated conversation.
The elders have had their daily round of recreation,
the only kind they still excel at, and are again models
of dignity and decorum for the younger generation
to respect, but not to emulate.
Such an insular touch of nature I have not, of
course, observed on our boat. The above was merely
one of those observations of former times that come
to my mind during the long hours of sitting and gazing
at the tireless sea. Continental table-d'hoters become
demonstrative over their wine, but do not taper on
and taper off like the English. One expects foreign-
ers to gesticulate and be undignified from first to last.
We are in the Caribbean Sea "alright," with trade
winds to tame us, choppy seas to chafe us, and sudden
showers to shift us. The officers and the militia cap-
tain are parading in dazzling white duck suits, in
which they are obliged to run under cover every little
while from the rain. A mist appears over the horizon
and in a few minutes overtakes us in the form of a
drenching rain, causing the officers on duty to put on
44 TO PANAMA
their raincoats, and those off duty to come in and be
treated to highballs. This is their high life, and makes
them accept with thankfulness and thanks whatever
and whichever comes. Water is man's greatest ene-
my as well as friend in the Caribbean. It drives
through the canvas awnings, steals into the state-
rooms, rusts steel buttons and umbrella frames, ruins
clothing, spoils cigars and gives men a taste for
liquor.
The captain, however, is temperate and has none
of the sailors' vices, as no man who lives with the
bottom of the sea constantly under his feet should
have. This nautical peculiarity of the captain has a
good effect upon the crew, and is a recommendation
to the United Fruit Company. It enables him to drink
with impunity when alone with the passengers. He
believes that only temperance men should be allowed
to drink. He believes that, being temperate, drink
does him no harm, and that he who thinks like a gen-
tleman will drink like a gentleman. The "besht" en-
gineer is also temperate, for the captain sees to it that
drink does not harm him either. The poor fellow has
had nothing alcoholic since we left New Orleans.
But he will get his bottle of beer with his Christmas
dinner to remind him of the cause of all the happi-
ness he has ever had. Our captain is so opposed to
intemperance that he will not keep a man in the crew
who is addicted to drink. The fate of the best engi-
neer is therefore settled, and he is taking his last voy-
age on the S. S. Limon. But he has not had his last
good time off the S. S. Limon by any means.
AT SEA 45
We have beautiful sunsets and sunrises, although
they are not very different from those in Illinois ex-
cept that the colors are more crude and garish. The
softened, hazy, fumigated, terra cotta hues of the
Chicago sunsets are unknown here. It is necessary
to go to Chicago to see them. On bright and clear
days the Caribbean sky and water have an intense
blue color that we seldom see in Northern latitudes,
but when the wind blows and the sky is overcast, the
water is of a bright, seasick green color, known to
poets although not to poetry.
We have moonlight nights that are worth taking a
five-day boat ride to see. At times the sky and sea
are bathed in silver sheens and shimmers that equal
those in some of the paintings and poems, and which
are worthy the pen of a Scott or Shelley. At other
times the firmament is caverned with jasper clouds,
and the water mottled with mysterious isles of shadow.
As Shelley says:
The chasm in which the sun has sunk is shut
By darkest barriers of enormous cloud,
Like mountain over mountain huddled — but
Growing and moving upward in a crowd,
And over it a space of watery blue
Which the keen evening star is shining through.
How beautiful this night ! the balmiest sigh
Which vernal zephyrs breathe in evening's ear
Were discord to the speaking quietude
That wraps this moveless scene. Heaven's ebon vault
Studded with stars unutterably bright,
Through which the moon's unclouded grandeur rolls,
Seems like a canopy that love has spread
To curtain her sleeping world.
46 TO PANAMA
This is about as I would have written except that
I should also have put the Fruit Company's clerk and
the English lady's maid in the scene to emphasize
the moonlight and add that human interest which the
lines do not express. The difference between Shel-
ley's lines and mine would have been that Shelley's
contain more poetry than truth, while mine would have
contained more truth than poetry. Truth is better
than poetry.
I have given Shelley's description because people
are seldom satisfied with the naked truth. They pre-
fer something in costume, and labeled with a name.
For instance, when they ask for medicine they get
something with a name; when they want Christian
Science they get nothing, with a name ; when they want
lies they get the real thing. Those who can no longer
be deceived are ready for another world, but not for
a better one.
Every one who visits the torrid zone takes a look at
the Southern Cross. So did I. On the Caribbean it
arises very late at night, and comes out about the time
civilized banqueters are going home. I had to get up
after midnight to obtain a view of it. There were
several crosses visible and I looked at them all, and
thus saw the Southern one. But I was unable to say
which one was the one, for I had no compass. How-
ever, that did not matter, since I could say I had seen
it. The one that travelers see and talk about is a
crooked one. It does not stand straight in the heav-
ens, and has its beams warped. I would not advise
any one to travel down here in a banana boat, that
AT SEA 47
becomes inebriated and intolerable every time a zephyr
blows, in order to stay awake to see a little, crooked,
imperfect cross that wouldn't be looked at in Chicago.
One can stay at home and hunt up a better and bigger
one before midnight, not to mention our glorious
Orion, our beautiful Milky Way and many other in-
teresting and historic constellations. In fact, how
many Northern people who know of and have seen,
and have acted silly about, the Southern Cross, know
of all and have seen all and have acted silly about all
of our Northern constellations? We should know
something about our own heaven before we devote our
attention to that of others.
CHAPTER IV
Port Limdn
Christmas Eve — Heat as a Stimulant — Essentials to a Good
Sleeper — Sheltering Reefs — Flying-Fish — Port Lim6n —
View of the Island and Town from the Ship — A Sailing
Vessel — The Piers — Fruits — Sharks — Christmas Festivi-
ties of San Jos6 — The Great Flood — Accidents on the
Railway — The Graveyard Washout — Two Weeks of
Travel to go a Hundred Miles — Ashore — Almost an Acci-
dent— Difficult Landing — A Negro with an Irish Brogue
— Other Negroes — A Cockney Accent — U. S. Accent —
Sun Baths and Shower Baths — The Rainy Season — No
Thunder — An Earthquake — Its Wasted Energy — Popu-
lation of Limon — The Fruit Company — The Stores and
Business Houses — San Jos£ans Caught at Lim6n by the
Washout — Boarding the Boat — Freight-ship Luxury —
Arrival of the Italian Ship — Christmas Dinner on Board
— Government Piers — The Warehouse of the United
Fruit Company — Other Houses — Clean Streets — The
Colored Inhabitants— The Race Problem— Vultures—
The Cockpit— The Cock Fight— A Used-up Victor— The
Market — Tough Meat — Saloons — The Hotel and Garden
— A Cockatoo — Highballs — Dear S. S. Lim6n — Escape
from Malaria, Mosquitoes and Yellow Fever.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.
OFF PORT LIMON, ON S. S. LIMON.
10:30 A. M. Saturday, Dec. 24, 1904.
This is Christmas eve, or will be when it is. It re-
quired quite a little will power for me to come into
the smoking-room where there is no breeze, in order
48
PORT LIMON 49
to write and swelter, and swelter and write, and thus
do two things at the same time on the same day. I
feel like one bird being killed by two stones.
You, of course, can have no conception of the effect
of this tropical heat upon the nervous energies, for
heat is a stimulant, and therefore not in your line. I
formerly imagined that it was a pleasant experience to
be under the influence of a stimulant, but now know
that it is not. It does not make it a bit easier to do
what you do not wish to do. I wonder if science is
really correct in calling heat a stimulant, or if the idea
is merely an opinion of scientists who, like women, are
forever changing their minds, and who have but little
experience or sympathy with stimulants ?
By night my head is weary from thinking about
how happy people are who live on land, so I promptly
fall asleep and stay asleep for seven or eight hours.
The three essentials to a good sleeper are present,
viz., a relaxed mind, a comfortable stomach and warm
feet. The combination is not to be had at home where
the brain, stomach and feet can not get together.
We were all day Monday from 10:30 A. M. to 6
P. M. in getting out of the Mississippi River (120
miles or thereabouts) and had smooth sailing on Tues-
day, giving every one a chance to eat three times. On
Wednesday we all dieted three times, being tossed by
a troublesome trade-wind which was to last a week.
But it is the unexpected that is always happening. By
noon we ran behind some sheltering reefs off Yucatan
and were suffering only from hunger — which is more
easily cured than seasickness.
The sun was shining and innumerable flying-fish
were sporting about the boat. Instead of sailing
through the air as I had seen them represented in
books, they seemed to keep their winglike fins in a
constant flutter, like the wings of hummingbirds, and
shone brightly in the sunlight as they sped over the
$o TO PANAMA
waves for forty or fifty feet. When they shot up out
of the water they reached a height of two or three
feet, went ahead for a short distance, and gradually
sank nearer and nearer to the water until buried in a
rising wave. After gaining the height acquired by
the first impulse as they emerged, they did not seem
able to rise any higher, but occasionally one would
strike the crest of a wave at the end of its flight and
give itself an upward turn, and would thus get a fresh
start and take another flight, somewhat shorter than
the first. The large number of them, and their live-
liness and apparently intense enjoyment of the air and
sun bath, produced a decidedly exhilarating effect
upon us and added to the joy of not being seasick.
But alas! Great happiness never lasts. The next
morning, Thursday, we were in the open sea again
among the swells.
And the swells still continue on the sea as well as
in Port Limon, where we have been anchored since
yesterday afternoon. The coast line is straight and
there are no breakwaters for the protection of ships,
except an island by the name of Uvita, which is situ-
ated about a quarter of a mile from the shore. Our
ship, two freight steamers and a sailing vessel are an-
chored behind it. The island appears oval in shape
and has, I should say, a surface of about six acres.
There are reefs at either end upon which foamy break-
ers are constantly curling and which, with the dense
tropical forest that covers it, constitute an animated
and pleasing picture. From the ship the town also
looks beautiful, nestling among the cocoa palms and
other trees that line the shore, and forming a pretty
fringe to the densely wooded, rising background.
The sailing vessel, which is a large schooner, came,
in shortly after we did, and it was an interesting ex-
perience to see her handled by three or four men. She
came toward us riding at full speed before the wind
PORT LIMON 51
with all sails set. She let down some of them as she
came near us, swung slowly around our stern, let
down more sail, pointed up toward the wind, then let
down all sail and dropped anchor just as she got into
position beside us at a conveniently safe distance. The
quickness with which so few men executed these nu-
merous details at the right moment, and the accuracy
with which the ship was maneuvered, with nothing
but the wind as a motor, caused me to realize that
there was as much nicety in managing a ship as in re-
moving an appendix.
If there is no bay at Limon there are at least fine
piers. The ships remain at anchor until the sea is
calm, then move up beside the piers and take on their
loads. Coffee and bananas seem to be the principal
exports, although about all kinds of tropical fruits
are, or can be, raised in Costa Rica. Oranges and
pineapples are plentiful, but our Northern apple, which
has almost as great a variety of flavors as all of the
tropical fruits put together, is an exotic and a luxury.
We saw a shark foraging about the ship this morn-
ing. Usually nothing but the back fin came in sight
as he swam along the surface, although occasionally
he would show his nose. The sailors are fishing for
him, but so far have not had a bite, and I am deprived
of an exciting description. But few in my place would
allow the opportunity to pass, bite or no bite. The
captain says that the popular notion that sharks turn
on the back or side when they bite or take anything
into the mouth is a mistaken one. He and others have
seen them grab things without turning. They do not
always take time to turn on the side. Like other ani-
mals they bite at things in any old way. But if a
shark wishes to seize a large object that is floating on
the surface, he may, if in no hurry, turn sidewise in
order not to have to lift his head out of water over
the object. Or if he wishes to bite a man's leg he
52 TO PANAMA
must turn sidewise in order not to bump his nose
against the leg and thus prevent the mouth, which
is quite a distance behind the nose, getting here. But
that he habitually turns on his back or side, like a
playful kitten, in order to eat or commit murder is one
of those romantic notions that people who like to be
deceived like to believe. Information that is novel or
absurd attracts attention and spreads widely, and is
slow to be corrected by reason and accurate observa-
tion. Natural science still has many entertaining
absurdities to eliminate from its teachings.
But now that I am within sight and touch of the
land of promise, the beautiful Costa Rica, I find myself
in a sad plight. I can not get in. I sailed from New
Orleans a week earlier than the other delegates in or-
der to spend the holiday week at San Jose, the capital
of Costa Rica and the Paris of Central America, and
practice my Spanish and participate in the revelry.
The beautiful city is located up in the highlands nearly
4,000 feet above the sea level and has a mean yearly
temperature of 68 degrees F., the extremes being 50
and 80 degrees. Although it has neither a good troupe
of actors nor of singers, it has the finest theater on
the continent. It therefore imports an operatic com-
pany from Spain every year for the Christmas holi-
days, and has a season of operatic and theatrical per-
formances, mimic bull-fights, genuine cock-fights,
noisy merry-go-rounds, harmless football and all sorts
of Spanish celebrations. All business is suspended and
the people give themselves up to a season of carnival
such as Latin nations delight in. But the wind blew,
the rain came, the earth quaked and the mountains
started down toward the sea, carrying away and bury-
ing miles of the only railroad track that led from the
Caribbean sea to the capital. This occurred four days
ago, and two feet of water is still running over the
great railroad bridge, which is 620 feet long and 220
PORT LIMON S3
feet above the bed of the well-named Reventazon
River (Big Buster River). The wind and rain did
about the same thing last year and, finding that it
was easy, repeated its performance this year, only in a
more thorough manner.
The last train that came down from San Jose had to
run through water that reached almost to the firebox"
of the engine, and stop occasionally to chop up huge
tree trunks that overlay the track. A train taking up
the imported actors and singers engaged for the
Christmas festivities at San Jose has not been heard
from, and as all telegraphic communication between
the port and the capital is interrupted, it is not known
whether the players are now acting for a living or
swimming for their lives. A trainful of workmen,
sent up to see what could be done to clear the track,
was caught in a land slide and buried, engine, men and
all.
Nine inches of rain fell at Limon night before last
and carried the muddy water of the river out into the
sea for five miles, coloring it a light yellow. As we
came here we entered this yellow sea before we sighted
Limon, and were in it fully an hour before we ar-
rived in port. Trees, bunches of bananas and other
debris are floating about, and although the stream
that empties into the sea at Limon was a small one,
they say that it is now large enough to float a ship. A
portion of the graveyard here was also washed out,
the flood carrying tombstones from one grave to an-
other and mixing up the bones. However, as far as
the living are concerned this is not a calamity, but
a blessing, for the town has received the washing it
needed to prevent the development of pestilence. The
buried negroes don't know the difference, nor do the
living care. The dead are having a good drying off
down below and the living expect to get one.
My fellow passengers, all of whom are bound for
54 TO PANAMA
San Jose, will have to wait for a passing ship to take
them to Colon, then cross the isthmus by rail to the
city of Panama, and wait there for a steamship to
take them up the west coast to Punto Arenas where
they can wait for a train to San Jose. Whether they
will have to stay there very long or not, depends upon
the amount of washing out there has been on the Pa-
cific side. As the steamers make many stops on the
Pacific coast and do not run very often, the passen-
gers will be on the way between one and two weeks,
according to their luck in catching a boat and a train,
instead of making the overland trip of 103 miles in a
few hours by rail, as they had expected to do.
As for me I will lose the fine Christmas weather in
the mountains and the round of novel entertainments
in the Paris of Central America, and be obliged to
spend two weeks instead of one in the hot city of
Panama, which is at sea level, within eight degrees of
the equator, and within two or three degrees of blood
heat.
3 130 P. M., Dec. 24, 1904.
We have been ashore. The United Fruit Company
sent out a row boat in which we climbed over the swells
for about a quarter of a mile as the falcon flies, but
over half a mile as the row boat climbed up and coast-
ed down. Getting from the lowered stairway of the
ship into the small boat was a test of good jumping,
food judgment and good luck. The waves as seen
rom the deck of the ship did not appear over three
feet high from trough to crest, yet the little boat be-
side the ship sank at least five feet from the step plat-
form and rose up to it again.
The insurance agent had an excess of confidence in
himself, as all successful insurance agents must have,
and went down the steps first, to show us how. But
for once his judgment of risks was poor. As he
PORT LIMON 55
jumped at the boat, it sank out of reach and moved
from under him. Luckily he had a business educa-
tion, which teaches men never to give up what they
have once laid their hands on, and he kept hold of
the railing of the stairway. But his big body had ac-
quired momentum and had to go, and he swung sus-
pended by his hands over the water, with his umbrella
sticking to him and his coat tails flying, until the boat
rose up beside him and he was pulled into it. A man
with less physical strength and presence of mind would
have splashed down into the waves to frighten sharks
and spoil our excursion to Limon. The insurance
agent, however, did not even lose his umbrella, which
was not insured and which he held up in triumph and
exultation as soon as the danger was over. The ladies
saw the performance and could not be persuaded to
leave the ship, as their lives were not insured. Some
one spoke of sharks, and they shuddered.
Upon arriving at the pier we were rowed to the
landing place, where again good judgment and gym-
nastics were required in order to jump on the lower
platform before the boat would sink away, and where
good luck and agility were necessary to enable one to
get up on the pier before the next wave broke over
the steps leading up to it.
The first dock hand we saw was a coal-black negro
with an Irish brogue which he used freely. It was a
precious combination and gave me a new sensation.
I was sorry that I could not take the combination with
me as a curio. Nearly all of the negroes about the
pier were Jamaicans and had a quaint accent and in-
flection of voice that was musical and pleasant to listen
to. One of them had acquired a cockney accent and
shocked and instructed us by calling a dollar a "crony"
(corona}, a highball "a eyeball" and a baked potato
"a biked potighto." I never realized before how
characterless and commonplace our United States
56 TO PANAMA
pronunciation really is. It lacks the bizarrerie of the
native London article which has been called by Don
G. Seitz "a queer jargon of misplaced aspirates and
vowels interspersed with drawls and growls." We
have to invent Americanisms and rhetorical barbari-
ties in order to outdo them.
While ashore we had hot baths in our own per-
spiration followed by cool shower baths in the rain,
the frequent repetition of which finally drove us back
to the ship. The rainy season is supposed by the cal-
endar to last from May to November, but the calendar
is a theorist, for we have been having rain from one
to five or six times a day, varying from brief sun-
showers to copious rainfalls. On the Caribbean side
it rains both in the rainy and dry seasons, there being
only about two months in the year of dry weather.
The rain, however, cools the atmosphere and the
earth, and renders the lowlands near the coast quite
comfortable compared with the Pacific side, where the
seasons are more sharply differentiated, and there is
more dry weather. Although I have seen many show-
ers I have heard no thunder on the Caribbean. The
showers come and go with such rapidity that appar-
ently they have no time to thunder. Possibly the hot
air over such warm water is so uniformly laden with
moisture that electricity does not easily concentrate
except at great heights and is only heard on great
occasions. But it is just as well not to hear it, for it
is Southern in temperament and revolutionary in its
methods, and is apt to radically change the existing
order of things.
Limon had an earthquake five days ago at midnight.
It frightened everybody and sent people skipping
around in their muddy back yards clad in flowing white
raiment like angels errant, but it did them no harm.
The following lines are copied from the local news-
paper: "At midnight on Monday the entire city was
PORT LIMON 57
thrown into a state of alarm by a severe shock of
earthquake, the like of which had never been experi-
enced in Port Limon by the oldest inhabitants. Sev-
eral private houses and shops suffered, etc." At pres-
ent earthquakes are useless generators of energy, but
if they could be stored up and used to shake school
boys and servant girls out of bed on cold mornings
they would become popular.
Limon has about 3,000 inhabitants, largely negroes
from Jamaica, and is the only Costa Rican port of
entry on the Atlantic side. It is practically a North
American town, however, being supported by the
banana business of the United Fruit Company. Near
the wharves is the main building of the company con-
taining the offices and stores. Here merchandise of
all kinds can be bought, from that which is put into
the stomach to that which is worn on the back. The
greater part of the goods, however, come from the
United States and, as the Costa Rican duties are high,
one pays about double our retail price at home. The
town has a good-sized hotel, a bank, a well-stocked
drug store, two or three steamboat agencies, a few
small stores for the negroes, and numerous saloons
of high and low degree. The large stores and agen-
cies, as well as all things that pertain to politics, are
conducted by Costa Ricans, many of whom live at
San Jose and come down to Limon frequently to look
after their interests. Several San Joseans came down
just before the washout to attend to business for a
day or two, and will now be obliged to wait here two
or three months or make the trip down to Panama
and up the Pacific coast with some of our S. S. Limon
passengers — a just punishment for neglecting the hol-
idays for business.
If I had arrived several days earlier and had gone
to San Jose before the washout, I should have had to
return by way of the Pacific coast, missing the Medi-
58 TO PANAMA
cal Congress and arriving home about two weeks after
the end of my journey. Thus the storm saved me,
and was a fortunate occurrence after all.
It is also fortunate that the floods have almost
stopped the moving of bananas from the plantations
down to the shore, and that the sea is too rough for
the ships to take on their loads. The S. S. Limon
will thus be obliged to remain at anchor behind the
island for a day or two, and the captain will be able
to keep us as boarders until Monday when a big Ital-
ian passenger ship arrives. We have hitherto
been longing for dry land, but now that we are liable
to be put on it to live in the town where the nights
are hot, muggy and mosquito-ry, where there is a
complete ice famine, much malaria and a few cases of
yellow fever, we are content to remain on the steamer.
The captain says that the sea is the only place to live
on, and from the tropical, semi-infernal standpoint
his view is the right one. Freight-ship accommoda-
tions have become a luxury, which proves that luxury
is merely a point of view. Everything is luxury to
some, nothing is luxury to others.
7 A. M., Dec. 26, 1904.
The Italian steamship, our friend in need that is to
take us to Colon, has arrived and will depart this after-
noon.
Yesterday we had an enjoyable Christmas dinner
which was seasoned by the fact that we had gone
through the hollowing out process of getting into the
tropics by sea, and by the fear that we had more emp-
tiness to endure before another opportunity for indul-
gence would present itself. I often think that the well-
known and often-sought sea-appetite is largely due to
a making up for missed and lost meals. We had bar-
ley soup, fish, roast turkey, cold meats, canned peas,
canned corn, sliced tomatoes, strawberry preserves,
PORT LIMON 59
plum pudding, Washington pie, cheese, fancy cake,
oranges, apples, nuts, raisins, grapes and champagne.
After we had filled the available space in our bodies
with this conventional conglomeration, to whose nox-
ious influence the custom of ages has rendered the
human family more or less immune, the captain took
the insurance agent and myself on shore to see the
Christmas festivities.
While climbing the waves in the row boat on the
way to the landing I noticed how well the government
piers were built, the posts being protected by copper
sheeting and the edge of the platform surrounded by
heavy iron girders. These iron girders were, how-
ever, a sad trial to the ship captains, for in bad weath-
er they injured the sides of the ships, and made it
almost necessary to wait for a calm sea in order to
move up for a load. The Costa Ricans, of course,
put these girders on their piers to make them last
longer and, having a monopoly of the business, found
it profitable to accommodate themselves instead of
their customers.
The warehouse of the United Fruit Company, which
stands near the shore, is a handsome two-story rect-
angular building composed of windows and veran-
das, the upper story being fitted up as lodgings and
lounging quarters for the employees. The principal
streets have been filled in and macadamized, and were
washed entirely free of loose dirt and gravel by the
recent rains, with the result that the surface looks
like rough concrete, and is as clean as if it had been
scrubbed with scrubbing brushes by a corps of house-
maids. All of the houses except two or three of the
five or six business buildings are one and two-story
frame skeletons, and are thus practically earthquake
proof. They could be rocked like dry-goods boxes
without being harmed or rendered more dilapidated;
and if they were rocked over they and their inhabi-
tants could be replaced at but little expense.
60 TO PANAMA
The negroes here are much blacker than those in the
United States, many of them having skin as black
and lusterless as soot. Their complexions are seldom
spoiled by white blood. They are the real thing. They
are better natured, more manageable and more inter-
esting than our mulattos, who are neither one thing
nor the other, although in the United States they
claim that they are both things and have in them the
best blood of both races. Slavery was the crime of
the South, but it was perhaps a pardonable one in all
except one feature, viz., the mixing of the races. That
act was the sin, and the result is our race problem —
a curse. The white blood of the mulatto longs for
its own, and the black blood of the genuine negro is
taught to long for what is not its own.
Vultures hopped about the back yards and perched
upon the housetops ready to eat up the garbage as
fast as thrown out. Stagnant water and dirt abound-
ed, but it seemed to agree as well with the natives as
with the big birds. The sun's heat reminded us of the
heat of some of our Northern steam-heated houses,
and our handkerchiefs were kept busy drying our
faces and necks. So when we found a score of ne-
groes gathered in the shade about a cockpit we went
into the shade to cool off.
The cockpit was a round space about ten feet in
diameter surrounded by six slender wooden posts
supporting the roof and forming a part of a low wall
about three feet high — high enough to keep -the fight-
ing cocks within, but not to obstruct the view of the
sports. The surrounding space was shaded by large
trees but not enclosed, being merely a back yard to
which a wide passage between two houses led. There
was no admission fee, the spectators or "betters"
standing around the pit betting on their favorites.
In the fight we saw a medium-sized Spanish roos-
ter, belonging to the establishment, disable a large
PORT LIMON 61
one of the same breed with the second stroke, and
kill it with the third. The entertainment was short,
but not sweet. A lance about two and one-half inches
long had been fastened to one of the legs of each bird,
the lances being about as wide and long as the small
blade of a large penknife, slightly curved and acutely
pointed. At the second jump the lance of the small
rooster pierced the body of the larger one, who imme-
diately turned sidewise and sank down. The victor
seemed to understand the action of the wounded bird
and was inclined to leave it alone, but the owners set
them at it again. The wounded bird made another
great effort, but his abdomen was this time pierced
by the penetrating lance of the victor, which stuck
fast and held him down beside his prostrate victim.
The owner pulled them apart, upon which the wound-
ed bird jerked his leg and wing convulsively two or
three times and expired.
I think that it was an easy death for a fighting cock,
although not as easy as having his neck wrung. He
certainly had a much easier time than the victor of
the previous fight, in which artificial spurs had not
been used. The hero stood on a pile of boards nearby
without a feather on his head, neck and thighs, and
with his bared skin swollen and as red as raw beef.
He had conquered in a long fight, but in the process
had undoubtedly had a half hour of the most severe
and exhausting punishment. Yet he stood up and
looked proudly about him, like a fighting cock still,
unconscious of his loss of beauty and of usefulness —
too naked to fight and too tough to be eaten.
Having seen enough to satisfy our barbarous in-
stincts, and cool off our enthusiasm but not our bodies,
we continued our walk and soon came to a large cen-
trally located market such as exists in nearly all South-
ern towns. Here we saw negroes carrying in freshly
killed beef to be sold the next morning at daybreak,
62 TO PANAMA
for, on account of the scarcity of ice, the butchers
have to sell their meat almost as soon as killed. This
probably accounts for the unseasoned toughness which
is the chief distinguishing characteristic of tropical
beef, although tough beef is sometimes found in the
temperate zones. We afterwards passed several sa-
loons in which the white young men of the town were
playing cards, and stopped in one of them and drank
nauseating luke-warm orangeades. Even the sa-
loons and the hospitals were out of ice. Our last stop
was at the hotel, a good-sized frame building that
backed up to the seashore and was delightfully cooled
by the sea breeze. The front garden of about three
acres was the most beautiful mass of foliage I have
ever seen. Excepting the wide paths, it was almost a
solid mass of loaded orange trees, towering royal
palms, foliage plants eight feet high, flowering trees,
and other plants of the richest green, yellow, orange
and variegated coloring.
We passed through the hall into the back yard,
which bordered on the seashore, and sat for a while
on the wide porch enjoying the sea breeze and watch-
ing a tame cockatoo ; a red, yellow, orange, green,
black and blue parrot, fully a yard in length from the
tip of his yellow beak to the end of his blue and car-
dinal colored tail. I often wonder if we Americans
are not descendants of the beautiful and loquacious
parrot instead of the gibbering monkey, for our women
are so ornamental, and swearing comes so natural
to our men.
While sitting and chatting we had to do the appro-
priate thing and take a couple of highballs, for we
were joined by some real Costa Ricans, who take
whiskey and White Rock at stated intervals for their
health, particularly when they come down to visit
these hot lower regions. When the time came to go
we drank another highball. I left out the whiskey,
PORT LIMON 63
for I knew that I had to climb into the boat; but the
others, including the temperate captain, took the uni-
versal poison as the Scotch dispense it. They had
the advantage of long practise and experience. My
book knowledge did not help me in practice.
After exercising a great deal of sober good judg-
ment and juvenile agility, we got safely in and out of
the row boat and finally on board our dear S. S. Li-
mon. We were glad to be again on the boat, which
was clean, cool and provided with ice and icebox
meat, and were fortunate in not being obliged to spend
the night in the old dilapidated worm-eaten hotel,
which was full of mosquitoes and hot air, and had
undoubtedly sheltered and shrouded many a case of
yellow fever in the past.
CHAPTER V
Colon and the Panama Railway
Getting Aboard the Italian Steamship — A Life on the Ocean
Wave — W. J. Bryan's Opinion — The Steerage — A Many"
tongued Englishman and Champagne Cider — The S. S.
Limonians and Dinner — A Polyglot Conversation — Steam-
er Chairs for Beds — Night Sounds and Nauseous Smells-
Fresh Air a Magic Remedy — Colon — The Formalities
of Landing in the Canal Zone — Passed Through by the
Linguistic Englishman — Circular No. 13 — Hotel Wash-
ington and Its Discomforts — Attractive Grounds — Im-
possible Lodgings — Sudden Departure — Paying Double
— Expensive Transportation — Aristocratic Beer — Get-
ting Something for Nothing — Suffocated by Handbag-
gage — The Champagne-Cider-Englishman Again — Across
the Isthmus by Railroad — Buried Treasures — U. S. Ma-
rines— Rhine Scenery — Cutting a Mountain Ridge in
Two — Arrival at Panama — Farewell to S. S. Limonians
— Parting without Sorrow — Traveling Friendship — Wise
Cab-men and Cheap Transportation — Two and a half
Cab Rides for a Glass of Beer — Doing as the Wild Beasts
do.
The Italian steamship, which shall be nameless, was
a large, fine-looking one when compared with banana
boats, and was to arrive and depart on Sunday. It
did so on Monday, and thus was keeping excellent
time for Central American sea travel. It had done
it manana, and every one was full of passive praise
64
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 65
which lay alongside the pier, brought our task however
to a most agreeable ending.
In order to avoid having our luggage examined,
and being taxed by the thrifty Costa Rican custom
officers, we arranged to have it put aboard the Italian
steamer without being landed. This was easy for us
but difficult for the sailors. They took it to the sea-
ward side of the ship in a large row boat which held
off about six feet and bobbed up and down like a cork.
At an apparent risk of being thrown into the sea by
each rising wave, the sailors made a noose in a heavy,
stiff rope and placed it around half a dozen trunks and
bags at a time. Then the derrick swung the things
out over the side of the small boat and up on the ship
in a way that frightened us, for it seemed almost a
miracle that the loosely bound trunks and bags did
not slip out and drop into the deep water. The sailors,
however, seemed quite as cool and unconcerned about
the chances of the trunks as about their own.
But how to transfer the ladies was a more difficult
problem for us. It was proposed that they be sent
the same way as the luggage, but the gallant captain
vetoed the proposition and swore that we should have
to get them in and out of the row boats, and put them
ashore, where they could board the steamship as be-
came their sex. And, in fact, after many an "oh" and
"no" and "I can't," and plenty of shoving and pulling
and catching, we finally got them safely on mothei
earth. The promenade from one pier to the other,
including a walk through the gorgeous garden of the
gangrenous hotel, and the final boarding of the ship,
66 TO PANAMA
which lay alongside the pier, brought out task however
to a most agreeable ending.
As a large number of the San Joseans who had been
trapped in Limon by the washout were going with us,
the steamship was quite crowded. It had come from
Italian and Spanish ports and was making a tour of
the Caribbean Sea, stopping at Limon, Colon and sev-
eral South American ports, and had all kinds and con-
ditions of men, women, children and animals on board.
Sounds of many languages, English, Spanish, Italian,
French, canine and gallinine, chased one another
through the air in lively competition. We were a
sort of Tower of Babel crowd. The European pas-
sengers looked the worse for wear, and their appear-
ance, actions and words convinced me that "A Life
on the Ocean Wave" was a poetical expression for
Englishmen and Americans only. The song has
never been translated that I know of, hence other
nations know nothing of the poetry of such a life;
and I had the proof of it right there before me and
all about me. Wm. J. Bryan is said to be responsible
for the following sentence:* "There is rest in an
ocean voyage. The receding shores shut out the hum
of the busy world; the expanse of water soothes the
eye by its vastness ; the breaking of the waves is music
to the ear and there is medicine for the nerves in the
salt sea breezes that invite to sleep." How eloquent
must be the man who can talk or write like that on
shipboard.
The steerage was crammed with men, women, chil-
•Chicago Daily News, Jan. 13. 1906.
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 67
dren, dogs and chickens; the dogs and chickens in
coops and the humans huddled quite as closely togeth-
er on their deck space. The latter were much worse
off because they had a little more intelligence than
the chickens, and realized their situation and suffer-
ings more fully. Some of the men stood up and some
sat on boxes, bundles, sky-lights and parts of the rig-
ging, staring blankly and stupidly about them; others
loitered about the narrow gangways, or reclined on
the dirty deck, playing cards. Women and girls sat
in out-of-the-way places with plates of unbuttered
bread and dry boiled potatoes in their laps, eating
with ravenous content and looking and acting as if
they had not eaten before for a fortnight. As the
voyage had been a long and stormy one, the appear-
ances probably were not at great variance with the
facts.
When finally we steamed out into the open sea the
big boat, which sat high out of the water, rocked al-
most if not quite as badly as had the S. S. Limon.
Many of the saloon (so-called first-class) passengers
amused themselves watching and criticising the sea-
weary crowd on the steerage deck below them, and
laughed loudly whenever one of the sufferers would
give way to a paroxysm of sickness. But some of
those heartless laugh-promoters got their deserts, for
the night turned out to be quite stormy and they
themselves did what seemed so amusing when others
did it.
The Port Limon passengers were quite gay for
people who were traveling over a thousand miles by
68 TO PANAMA
sea, and over a hundred by land, in order to get to
a place that had been only a hundred miles distant
before the great flood of the Reventazon or Big Bus-
ter River. I was particularly interested in an English
resident of San Jose who had traveled extensively in
Europe and Central America and spoke French, Ital-
ian, Spanish and English quite fluently and frequently.
He spoke to every one in his own language and was
"hail-fellow-well-met" with all. Before the ship left
the pier he treated and was treated by the Limonians
who came to see him off, and after we got off he did
the same to his friends on board. In order to save his
head he drank a great deal of champagne cider, a
temperance drink which limits its ravages mainly to
the stomach. We put out to sea at four-thirty, and
by five-thirty his stomach weighed a ton and had to
be lightened by throwing a part of its cargo over-
board. By dinner time he was a changed man and
acted as small as before he had acted big. When he
sat down at the table he put on a brave and cheerful
look. But I could see that his bravura and cheerful-
ness were only skin deep, for there was no confirm-
atory luster in his eyes and no pleasant word on his
tongue. While the soup was being eaten he began to
look at us with that unmistakable, conquered expres-
sion of a seasick man. He stared at us as if asking
us if we noticed his plight, and when the second
course came on he had to capitulate. He suddenly
stood up and said meekly, "I think I must go/' and
left the table, quickening his step as he neared the
door.
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 69
The dinner was quite elaborate, but the foods were
mostly Italian mixtures and so greasy that although
the motion of the boat did not affect me, my stomach
felt, after I had finished, as if it had done something
wrong. Grease and sauce blend the flavors of food
mixtures into a greasy and saucy harmony and, since
the taste of fat is agreeable to the hungry stomach,
often make the mess taste good. This is one of the
secrets of economical cooking, which is so extensively
cultivated abroad. The mixtures, although not at-
tractive to the pampered American palate, are much
more healthful than mince and pumpkin pie, dough-
nuts, baked beans, gingerbread, boiled corn beef and
cabbage, devil cake and other devil dishes of Yankee
invention. Our Pilgrim Fathers renounced the devil
in all but eating. But the secret of the enjoyment of
our dinner was the fact that we S. S. Limonians, who
had become good friends and good sailors during the
mutual and varied experiences of our voyage, all sat
at the same table and took pleasure in each other's
company — the more so because all around us were
strangers with whom we had nothing in common
either social or ancestral. They were gesticulating
and talking incessantly, rolling their R's like ratchets
and becoming more noisy, if possible, with every glass
of wine they swallowed. The ship provided, gratis,
plenty of cheap red and white wine, quite enough to
inebriate all of us if we had been able to drink enough
of it. Our Englishman and our insurance agent tast-
ed it and promptly ordered some good wine at their
own expense. But about the time we were half
70 TO PANAMA
through eating and the passengers had drunk about
all they wanted, some excellent wine was brought in
and served free. It was better than what either of
our men had ordered and drunk, but came too late
for them to enjoy it. Not having indulged in any
before, I took a little and relished it. It seemed to
affiliate with the grease that was growling inside of
me, and made it feel more contented to remain where
it was. If our New England had only provided an
antidote or palliative for the sweet and sodden mix-
tures with which she tempts us ! But she finishes the
destruction of digestion by slaking and cementing
them in the stomach with hard cider.
After dinner I made the acquaintance of the Italian
ship doctor, who spoke Italian and French; and Doc-
tor Echeverria from Limon, who spoke Spanish,
French and English ; and a physician from Austria, who
spoke Italian, Spanish, French, English and German.
And as I attempted to palm off on them a kind of
English, German, Spanish, Italian and French con-
fusion, we had a dizzy and delightful time together.
Sometimes two languages were spoken at once. But
even when the conversation became general among us
the language was apt to be changed with each speak-
er, who often could express himself better in a lan-
guage other than that of the previous speaker. The
comforting part of it was that even when the language
changed with each speaker, most of us could under-
stand what was said, and only became a little bit
dazed and stuttery when we got to gesticulating and
talking too fast. It was delightful, but it was strenu-
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 71
ous. It would have been more congruous to have
adopted French, the only language which we all spoke,
as a common medium, but as none of us was French
no one volunteered.
After our polyglot jugglery had exhausted our en-
ergies and our interest we separated, and I lay down
on a bench and rested my brain. I remained there
until quite late, for down among the staterooms there
was so much noise and bad air and so many roaches,
that the cool quiet fresh air on deck was not to be
exchanged for that below except for the purpose of
obtaining the needed sleep.
When I finally concluded that it was necessary to
go to bed, I noticed some passengers preparing to
spend the night in their steamer chairs. I did not
wonder at their choice of lodgings, but wondered how
many shower baths they would get before morning.
To have no place to sleep more comfortable than a
reclining chair with wobbly wooden legs and arms, is
one of those sidelights of travel that books seldom tell
about and tourists never look forward to. Down be-
low I found the portholes on my side of the ship
closed in order to keep the waves and fresh air out-
side where they belonged. I sighed and climbed up
into the upper berth near the ceiling, for the lower
one was occupied by dingy sheets and pillow cases.
The person who had a right to sleep there had given
it up, and was probably outside on a steamer chair
where he could breathe better.
The walls or partitions between the staterooms
reached only to within a foot of the ceiling, which
72 TO PANAMA
was a provision for diffusing the bad air and odors
equally and impartially among the passengers. I did
no eavesdropping nor had I any desire to pry into my
neighbors' private affairs, nevertheless I heard dole-
ful groans and desperate whoops that were intended
to be kept secret. The genial English linguist who
had kept sober on champagne cider was in the room
next to mine doing penance. Even after the general
noises had subsided he occasionally broke the silence
and started desultory responses and imitations down
the corridor. Finally the forced contemplation of
misery became monotonous and wearisome and I fell
asleep and slept until the morning noises and noi-
someness began to come over the partitions and awake
my ears and nostrils to a renewed sense of the situa-
tion.
I descended from my elevated couch, hurried into
my clothes and went on deck to let the close air out of
my air passages. The effect of the fresh air was hyp-
notic, and purgatory was forgotten. In a short time
life became worth living, and I descended to the dining
room where the odors were agreeable, and fortified
myself with a water roll and two cups of cafe-au-lait.
It seemed to me that the half of seasickness, consisted
in being stowed away in poorly ventilated and malodor-
ous covey holes.
We arrived at Colon between eight and nine o'clock.
The town has a good but exposed harbor with large
covered piers. Only two or three other steamships
were at the piers, and during the time I was in the
town I never saw more than four there at a time. Al-
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 73
though quite a number of ships stopped, but few
stayed long, which was possibly due in part to the fact
that the harbor afforded but little protection from the
terrible "Northers" that occasionally visited it.
As we moved up to the pier, its edge was crowded
with gesticulating negroes asking in Spanish and
broken English to carry our baggage but who, when
we finally called to them, told us to wait. This use-
less calling made the crowded landing place seem
lively and busy, although nothing was being done but
waiting. The health officer came aboard and vacci-
nated a few obstinate steerage passengers who had
resisted the efforts of the ship surgeon, but now had
to be vaccinated or be sent back home. He then or-
dered the cabin passengers all into the dining-room,
glanced at us and talked with the ship surgeon. Then
the custom officer called us into the parlor and made
us sign a declaration of our baggage. Finally, after
about an hour of fruitless formality they allowed us
to step on the pier, but held us there to have our bag-
gage rummaged. At the opportune moment the lin-
guistic San Jose Englishman who the day before had
drunk champagne cider to everybody's health but his
own, and to whom the habit not only of talking to
everybody in his or her native language but of giving
assistance and information to everybody, either was
an inherited instinct or had become second nature by
cultivation and habit, appeared suddenly, as if by
magic and from nowhere, and made the custom officer
ashamed to examine my trunk. He was not acquaint-
ed with the young officer, but he was as expert with
74 TO PANAMA
strangers as an insurance agent, and had an extra
traveling experience as well as a compelling touch of
nature. One became his friend at the second word he
uttered. His mouth was so full of words that they
came out spontaneously and seemed to enjoy them-
selves on their way out. Although he had never heard
of me elsewhere, he introduced me as a delegate to
the Medical Congress and guest of the Republic of
Panama, and made me out so important and distin-
guished that the officer touched his hat apologetically
and hastily closed and marked my trunk.
Sanitary circular No. 13 was handed to every one
who landed at Colon. It contained instructions as to
the best way of avoiding malaria and yellow fever. I
have preserved mine, but it has become so badly torn
and soiled and wrinkled from much handling and
stuffing away in a crowded steamer trunk that it is
almost illegible. For the benefit of those who stay
at home, but wish to know how to avoid these mala-
dies, I reproduce it here. I was unable to smooth
out the wrinkles, however, and think that it must have
become slightly altered by my typewriter.
WAR DEPORTMENT.
ISTHMAN CANAL COMMOTION.
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SAN TOY OFFICER.
Ann Cone, Isthman Canal Zoo,
November 28th, 1904.
Circular No. 13.
This circular is handed to each new rival upon the
Isthmuss for the purpose of instruction as to how to
void the disease most prevalent in Panama and the
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 75
Canal Zoo — MALE-ARIA. Its cause is now well-
known and each one with a little care can do a great
deal toward keeping few from the disease.
It has been proven that male-aria is only given to
man by the bite of a female musk-eater of a certain
species (Anna Pholes). This female musk-eater
must always bite some man-being who is suffering
from male-aria and, in the blood thus drawn, she takes
in the male-arian parachute. Within a few days, this
parachute infects the musk-eater herself, and when
she next bites a well parson she injects her hospital
into the beating place. In this hospital the male-arian
parachute is injected, and thus the wealthy parson
contracts the disease.
Now if every man would use a musk-eater-bar, so
arranged that the musk-eaters could not get into the
bar-room at night, much protection would be pro-
cured from the disease, for while it may be contracted
during the day time, it is not lovely to be. Probably
nine tenths of the male-arian cusses contract the dis-
ease during sleep, because the male-arian musk-eater
is a night biter, and the parson is quiet at this time.
Absolute protection from musk-eater bites is im-
possible, but it is known that Queen-Anne is a deadly
person to the male-arial parachute after she gets into
the blood of a humming bee. If therefore every drone
would shake three grins at Queen-Anne once a day,
any male-arial parachute that has been introduced
to him during the day would almost certainly be
heeled. The best time probably to shake Queen-Anne
is before going to bed at night.
W. C. Gorgas,
Colonel, Medical Cops, U. S. A.
Chief San Toy Officer.
Colonel Gorgas is said to be a clear-headed, re-
sponsible man, but after reading his circular as re-
stored I will not consider him responsible.
76 TO PANAMA
I had heard so much about Hotel Washington and
its delightful situation on the cool tradewindy side
of the town that my first endeavor upon landing was
to get there and secure comfortable quarters. As
there were no carriages, omnibuses, horse cars, dog
carts or elevated trains visible on the streets (only
steam engines and freight trains), and as the hotel
was only a five-minute walk from the wharf, I walked
the distance and hired a negro boy to carry my trunk.
It was only ten o'clock in the morning but the heat
was such that when I arrived I was perspiring most
healthfully, and so was the negro boy with my trunk
on his shoulder. I asked him to allow me to help him
carry the trunk, or hire a helper, but he refused say-
ing that it kept the sun off of his back.
The hotel had an aged and careworn look and
seemed to be more in need of the mild climate and
salubrious surroundings than any of the guests who
were lounging in its shadows. It was two stories
high, and consisted of a long row of rooms, below
and above, which extended in single file parallel with
the beach and about a hundred feet from it on one
side, and along a back street on the other side. Which
was the front side, I could not tell. Wide verandas
bordered each floor in front and rear, the rear (or
front) ones serving as outdoor sitting-rooms and
the front (or rear) ones as passageways from the
rooms to the stairway outside. Thus each room had
a back (or front) door and window facing the sea
and a front (or back) door and window facing the
town. At the end of the building on the right there
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 77
was a large bath-house with several cold rain-water
shower baths but no tubs. From the bath-house a
wing extended toward the sea, forming with the main
building an L-shaped structure. In the wing the
rooms did not extend through from veranda to ver-
anda and therefore possessed a door and windows
on one side only; a poor arrangement for tropical
dormitories, in which through and through draughts
of air are necessary for health and comfort.
The grounds consisted of a well-kept lawn in the
rear (or front) bounded, near the water's edge, by a
shell road and a fine row of lofty cocoa palms, the
conventional ornaments of inhabited tropical shores.
On the back (or front) verandas one could sit and
contemplate the ever youthful charms of nature, en-
joying the constant fanning of the cool sea breeze and
forgetting the hollow-eyed and unattractive, double
faced appearance of the building. The only indoor
lounging place was a small combination sitting-room
and barroom ; but as there ought to be no indoors in
the tropics except for protection from night-biting
insects and beasts, this defect was apparent only.
I found the manager busy at his desk in a little
office about ten feet square, that opened on one side
into the hotel barroom and on the other into his gro-
cery and provision store, from which he bought pro-
visions of himself for his hotel. After finishing his
business with the clerk, who had the right-of-way,
he greeted me passively, and informed me that there
was not an empty room in the house, but that by
night he might be able to put me in a room with an-
78 TO PANAMA
other occupant or two. In the meantime he had my
trunk and bag put in a room in the wing of the house.
The room contained three single iron beds, two old
water-worn wooden washstands, worth $2.00 each, if
any one could be found willing to buy them, a center
table two by three feet in diameter, worth $1.50, and
two chairs worth nothing. It had neither a closet
nor a wardrobe, and the two windows and the door
were on the same side, and that side was not toward
the sea. For three to sleep under mosquito bars in
one room without an opportunity for a breeze to blow
through it, would have been existing but not living.
I did not then know that in the tropics people sleep
with doors as well as windows wide open, utterly in-
different to the presence or proximity of others, and
that they subordinate all other comforts and callings
to that of keeping cool. Seclusion is, according to
tropical standards, an over-refinement of our Nor-
thern modesty. In the tropics strangers eat, talk
and sleep in common and in public in spite of the
tedium of small talk all day and the annoyance of
snoring and snorting all night; in the North we
eat, think, sleep and weep as privately as possible,
annoying our friends and relatives only. But I
was not born in the tropics nor for the tropics,
and longed for the comforts and privacy I had en-
dured on the S. S. Limon. I wished I was on my
way back to the States. Freezing and its accessories
were not so bad after all and I would in the future
cultivate them, and try to see their bright side. I was
completely discouraged, and could not reconcile my-
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 79
self to a communistic life of this kind; so I resolved
to keep on the move until I found a place where I
could live in a civilized manner even if I did not
stop moving until I arrived home.
I asked about trains and was told that the morning
train had gone and no other would go until after-
noon. But I went to the railroad station and learned
that a special train would leave in about an hour. It
was organized to take the passengers of our Italian
boat across the isthmus to catch a Pacific Mail S. S.
I therefore returned to the hotel and hired a negro
to take my trunk back to the station. This negro pro-
duced a tiny dray-cart, drawn by a tiny four-legged
skeleton of a tropical horse and offered to haul both
myself and my trunk. If an able-bodied man had
been harnessed to it, I should have accepted; but I
had pity on the skeleton and walked to the station,
allowing the trunk to ride. I was soon booked and
baggaged for Panama, and was happy again at hav-
ing escaped the annoyance and discomforts of room-
ing with strangers in a strange land, and at having
the certainty of arriving in three hours at my long
journey's end — at Panama, the oldest city on the
continent. Quaint old, cute old, historic old Panama !
where picturesque revolutionists were as plentiful as
commonplace millionaires in New York. Panama
meant rest, clean clothes, baths, sight-seeing and sies-
tas ; and it could not be much hotter than Colon. I felt
like one of the world's elect, for although many go to
a hotter place, but few get to Panama.
I had paid each of the negroes who had carried my
8o TO PANAMA
trunk the fifty cents which they demanded. But I
learned afterward that they meant Central American
silver, which is worth only half as much as gold.
Hence I paid each of them the equivalent of a dollar
in their money, or double the amount they asked.
However, I would recommend this double method of
paying tropical negroes, as it secures good service and
doesn't bankrupt anybody. My second negro was
very attentive and had my baggage weighed for me,
and thus enabled me to pay $2.50 for it without any
trouble. When, however, I had finally settled at the
rate of three cents a pound for my baggage and about
that much a rod for my fare, I discovered that the
delegates to the Medical Congress were entitled to
free transportation for themselves and baggage. The
negro had thus cost me $11.50 more than I should
have paid. He was literally a born blackleg and I
was a natural born greenhorn, but we were both inno-
cent, and doing the best we knew how, and no harm
had been done.
After my great disappointment with the hotel and
all of the activity involved, I felt faint, for I had
breakfasted at break of day on the conventional noth-
ing, viz., a dry roll and coffee. So I stepped into a
combination saloon and restaurant to get an appetizer
to prepare me for a real breakfast, for in Central
America, as in France, they rightly call their first
meal coffee and their second meal breakfast. When
I had drunk my beer the bar-tender asked fifty cents
for it. "This is too much," I thought. "If they charge
fifty cents for beer, they must charge about a dollar
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 81
and a half for a highball and five dollars for a beef-
steak. I had better get back home where I can afford
to eat and drink." I handed the bartender a silver
half dollar and to my surprise he handed me a silver
half dollar back. Thinking that he had made a mis-
take, I gave it back to him. He took the coin, looked
at it and again returned it to me. Then I also looked
at it and saw that it was a Columbian half dollar, equal
to our quarter dollar. I felt greatly relieved — my
glass of beer had only cost a quarter. So I drank
another and made him keep the money, and he apolo-
gized for having tried to make me take the money in-
stead of another beer. I learned that beer was one of
the most expensive drinks on the isthmus. It was an
exotic from Milwaukee. It had to be brought a great
distance in bottles, and instead of costing two thirds
as much as a highball it cost nearly twice as much.
The regular price for ordinary drinks at the bar, ex-
cepting beer, was only fifteen cents in U. S. money,
which was consoling. I should be able to drink even
if I could not afford to eat.
After getting some real breakfast at half price I
felt better as well as wiser, and went to the station
and found the officials still weighing baggage. The
extra train was proving profitable and would prob-
ably be crowded. Hence I hurried into the cars to
secure a seat, and was glad I had done so, for pretty
soon they were filled until there was hardly breathing
space. It was not that the passengers were too nu-
merous, but they had brought countless bags, bundles,
blankets and other unperfumed traveling furniture
82 TO PANAMA
all done up in hand packages, and had piled them up
on and between the seats. They could take them thus
without paying for them. We had first-class tickets,
but were transported like emigrants and were nearly
two hours late in getting off. But I did not mind that,
for the other S. S. Limonians were there, and we
were enjoying each other's company and the privilege
of commenting freely upon our strange surroundings.
We were hardly out of the station, when the genial
champagne-cider-Englishman from San Jose, who
had telegraphed to the Pacific Mail S. S. Company
to hold their boat for his party, and who had been
mainly instrumental in getting the extra train put on,
came down the aisle with a bottle of that most wine-
like whiskey, called "Scotch," and our S. S. Limonian
Englishman produced three bottles of that most wine-
like water called "White Rock" out of one of his
dozen traveling bags. So we had a Scotch treat.
Pretty soon nearly every person in the car had re-
verted to his atavistic emigrant nature, and was eat-
ing out of his hand and drinking out of his bottle. It
was quite an enjoyable picknicky experience, only I
could not eat. I had taken a hearty meat breakfast
before starting, instead of waiting for this sociable
lunch.
The journey of two hours was a delightful trans-
formation from our long siege of Caribbean discom-
fort. The cars had no glass in the windows, and the
breeze caused by our motion kept us comfortably cool
without bringing in any dust. The inhabitants we
saw along the road were as black and curious looking
HUTS OX LINE OF PANAMA ROAD
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 83
as imps, and the foliage so dense in places £S to ap-
pear almost solid; and the frequent views of portions
of the incomplete canal and of the picturesque rivers
that intersected and mirrored the tangled foliage, lent
a fascinating wildness and weirdness to the land-
scape, that reminded us of oriental tales and occult
apparitions.
But all is not gold that glitters, nor passion that
paints, nor poetry that poses. Commerce and greed,
poverty and death, profit and loss, had left their trails.
In places we saw ruined machinery sticking out of
the underbrush. Indeed, whole workshops were cov-
ered and all but concealed by the rank growth of veg-
etation. At Bas Matachin a machine shop with an
equipment worth at least a quarter of a million of dol-
lars and covering six acres was overgrown; and near
it several acres of car wheels and steel rails had al-
ready been dug out. After being put in order the
shop was going to develop a capacity for turning out
fifteen locomotives and 115 cars per month. Other
warehouses contained a million dollars' worth of
pumps, dredges and machine tools. Hundreds of su-
perfluous letter presses and six tons of rusty steel
pens were found among them. At Culebra they were
repairing 1,000 cars, thirty locomotives and seven ex-
cavators, besides many antiquated steam shovels, all
of which were to be utilized to keep men busy until
more modern machinery could be imported. Costly
chicken-coops, a horse bath-tub 15x75 feet in area,
and a pig pen 100x200 feet (the latter made of con-
crete with iron supports and a galvanized roof, and
84 TO PANAMA
capable of holding 200 hogs) were discovered in the
jungle. Surely Panama until just recently contained
the greatest amount of accessible buried treasures of
any country in the world. In the basement of the ad-
ministration building at Panama are French printing
presses and lithographic presses, and a carload of
drawing sheets, which is, according to the investiga-
tion of Frank C. Carpenter, from whose writings the
above astonishing items of information are taken,
thousands of dollars' worth more than can be used
in all of the work of the canal.
During the last half hour of the journey across the
isthmus the scenery was hilly, and the view less im-
peded by crowding vegetation. The barracks of the
U. S. marines at Empire, nestling in the foliage on
the side of the mountain, made a romantic picture as
seen from the train, something like Rhine scenery
without the Rhine. And I think that the luxuriance
of the tropical foliage in the valley made an acceptable
substitute for the Rhine at that point. Better to have
Rhine scenery without the Rhine than the Rhine
without any scenery, since we can't have everything
in Panama. It is easier to imagine a river than to
imagine the scenery. But when the canal Is finished
we will also have to imagine the scenery, for the pres-
ent railroad and many of the villages we were looking
at will be at the bottom of a lake, and ships will be
passing over them.
We rode through the Culebra cut, where they are
cutting through a mountain ridge 300 feet high. Three
hundred feet high seems pretty low for a mountain
COLON AND THE PANAMA RAILWAY 85
ridge until one attempts to dig through it and carry
the rocky debris twenty-three miles up the Atlantic
coast whence it can not be borne back by the torrents
of the rainy season. Its accomplishment would make
a fit subject for an Arabian Night story. But Uncle
Sam finds it easy. He is going to build the canal over
the mountain, and make his cement out of the debris.
Suddenly, long before I expected or even desired
it, we stopped at the city of Panama, the Mecca of my
pilgrimage. I bade farewell to the S. S. Limonians,
who were taken by the train to the mouth of the canal
where the pier was located and where the Pacific Mail
steamer was waiting for them, and started for Hotel
Central. One of the most agreeable features about
steamship friends is that there is no pain at parting.
We enjoy them, and leave them rejoicing, and readily
find substitutes wherever we go. If we meet them
again soon, we greet them as vociferously as if they
were old cronies; if we never meet them again we
forget them as if they had been changes in the
weather.
I found cabmen in abundance, all native negroes.
They were unlike any other cabmen I had ever met.
In a way they were saints, gentlemen and business
men, and didn't "let on." Instead of taking advan-
tage of the facts that the weather at Panama was
always either hot or rainy, the distance too great to
be walked, and that there were no street cars, to charge
a dollar for the long ride to the hotel at the other
end of the town, they charged ten cents. Pah I In
Chicago the cabfare from the railway stations to my
86 TO PANAMA
house is two dollars and a half. But by keeping
their price down to ten cents the Panama cabmen
not only have killed street car competition, but they
get more jobs without doing any more work. Their
horses do the work while they merely take rides, and
are kept cool by the motion and entertained by their
customers. It is a wonder that with such successful
and moral business models so near them, the Colon
negroes can be so mercenary and shortsighted.
I like a cheap ride, but when it is as cheap as that
it seems like something not worth having. One can
take two and a half rides for their price of a glass of
beer. It is preposterous. While in Panama I did
refuse to ride once, and walked to the station from the
hotel — but only once. The ride was worth the price
of two and a half schooners of beer. The distance
was composed of cobblestones and animated by heat,
and grew upon acquaintance. Walking at night in the
tropics is pleasurable and healthy, but by day it is
impossible. In the tropics one should do as the wild
beasts do, viz., keep out of the sun and let beer alone.
ALONG PANAMA RAILROAD
CHAPTER VI
Panama
Origin of the Name Panama — Suggestions for Change of
Name — Enlightening a Cab Driver — Scalping in the
United States — A Cure for Obesity — Shirking — Descrip-
tion of Road from the Railroad Station to the Hotel
Central — Plaza Central — Tips — The Negro in the North
and South — Dr. Frank's Opinion — How the Tropical
Negro's Wants Are Satisfied — Opportunities for Negroes
and Mulattoes in the Tropics — Solution of the Race
Problem.
We are told that Panama is the Indian name for
good fishing place, or place abounding in fish. Judg-
ing from the hotel fare this might be so, for when
we did not have canned fish, we had fresh. But this
explanation is regarded by archaeologists as a fish
story and lacks anthropologic evidence. As to ety-
mology, the name sounds and looks more like Greek,
Latin or Spanish than Indian. Panamahaha would
sound more like an Indian name and would express
more.
One enthusiastic writer says the name Panama was
given to the city because it is the oldest city on the
continent, the Pa and Ma of American cities. The
simplicity of the explanation gives it weight. Sim-
plicity and truth are twins, and simplicity was born
first.
87
88 TO PANAMA
A Spanish scientist asserts that the original name
was Panima from Pa ni Ma, which means neither
father nor mother. He claims that as the first city
of America, it had neither father nor mother. This
is simpler still.
A Scandinavian historian thinks that the original
name was Panamerica, which is Swedish. Eric was
cut out later, and Panama was left.
A celebrated English captain, whose name has been
forgotten, thinks that the real name was Panamaniac,
because the inhabitants were unlike the English, and
refers to the capture of Panama by Morgan the pi-
rate as proof. The inhabitants who went forth to
fight insanely allowed themselves to be scattered and
driven back by their own horses and cows. He says
that the English do not fear these animals.
Sportsmen say that the name is Indian and that it
refers to the method of fishing formerly in vogue by
the natives. The fisherman leans over the water and
agitates it with his beard and lips, whereupon the fish,
who can not distinguish a dark colored face above
the surface of the water from a tree trunk, takes the
agitation of the water for that made by bugs, darts
at the place and lands between the Indian's teeth, and
is caught.
I myself am inclined to cut the Gordian knot by
proposing a new name. With a temperature of 90
to 100 degrees F. in the shade on Christmas and New
Year's days, the town should be called Infero in Esper-
anto, Inferno in Italian, Enfer in French, Hoelle in
German, Lugar Endiablado in Spanish and Vamick in
PANAMA 89
Volapuk. I suggested this explanation to our English-
man of the S. S. Limon as we were parting at the
Panama railroad station, and he said, "Go to Panama."
I chartered a ten-cent cab at the station and en-
tered into conversation with the driver, who, with his
vast fund of knowledge concerning Spanish words
and Panama city geography, taught me many things.
He was one of the few Panama cabmen who spoke
English.
In order to give him some information in return, I
told him that I came from one of the youngest and
largest cities in the United States, a city in which we
had a river whose water ran backward toward its
source, that the city had also built a canal that car-
ried the waters from Lake Michigan uphill on its way
down to the Gulf of Mexico, and had constructed a
pump that would have pumped the Niagara Falls into
the Mississippi River had not the rest of the country
objected and interfered. I told him that some of us
remembered when Chicago was the center of the
greatest Indian scalping district of the world.
He stared at me with the whites of his eyes while
I was talking, and then wanted to know if I had ever
seen any one scalped. I told him that I had myself
been scalped five times and was now growing my
sixth head of hair ; that the hair of many of our wom-
en turned golden yellow instead of gray as they grew
older; that hairgrowing was one of our industries,
and our horticulturists made it grow on wax figures
faster than it grows on babies' heads, just as our
builders put roofs on houses before building the walls,
QO TO PANAMA
and in his hot country would leave off the walls
altogether.
"Do they ever begin at the roof and build down-
ward?" he asked, dryly.
"Not as a rule, but we often begin the new build-
ing before the old one is torn down, and put in the
new foundation and supports while the old building
is still inhabited."
He did not seem to know that I was telling the
truth, for he began to lose interest and whipped up
his emaciated horse to keep it from falling down, and
apart. So I changed the subject.
"Your horse seems to be getting very thin from
your efforts. Or perhaps it is from its own efforts.
It is tired carrying its age, which, of course, is grow-
ing greater and heavier every day. It ought to be
wired and connected with a power-house. In my
country we put up better frameworks and run them
by gasoline vapor. How do you feed it?"
"I don't feed him."
"I beg pardon. I meant to ask how you diet him?"
"He works and fasts until six in the evening, when
I then turn him loose and let him nibble. I lay off
once a week to spend my week's earnings, and turn
him out to grass for the day, when he fills up."
"I have it at last," I exclaimed so suddenly that he
gave a little start. "I have been seeking a cure for
obesity for years, and you have found it and demon-
strated it. I'll make my fat patients fast and work
all day, let them nibble after 6 P. M. and once a week
turn them out to golf, which includes both the grass
and the filling up."
IN PANAMA CITY
Store and Residence of the Poorer Quarter
PANAMA 91
"What a queer country yours is," he said, "I should
think that people would make fun of each other all
of the time."
"They do. Scheming for each other's money and
then making fun of the losers, keep them busy and
happy. But why do you tire yourself beating your
horse?"
"I'm working, or being worked, I hardly know
which."
"And what is the horse doing? If he could only
take the whip!"
"He's shirking, sir. I'm giving him the whip."
"Well, it's about time for him to shirk. He prob-
ably wants to do it once more, and has no time to lose.
If the poor brute could only talk, as we do."
"That's one bad quality he doesn't share with us,
sir."
After we had thus driven about a mile, the houses,
which near the station were dilapidated one and two-
story frame structures, teeming with Chinese and
negroes, began to improve in quality, and we came
to the Plaza and Church of Santa Ana. Here we
found ourselves to all appearances in an old Span-
ish town, as full of medieval inconveniences as New
York or Chicago of modern improvements. Span-
ish houses, churches, streets, plazas and people —
everything quaint, curious and comfortless — dirty, dis-
eased and dead. We passed* many hotels, but the
buildings were small, old, dingy and uninviting in
appearance. They looked more like homes for mi-
crobes and macrobes rather than donas and hidalgos.
92 TO PANAMA
The next half or three-quarter mile was through
the best business part of the city where whites pre-
dominated. The houses were Spanish in style, two
or three stories high, nearly all having stores on the
ground floor and living apartments above. They
formed a solid front of masonry, slightly varied, and
were built in little blocks that measured about 100 by
200 feet. The cross streets were too narrow for two
persons to walk abreast, so that the only way for pe-
destrians to pass one another was to step off into the
street, and the only way for vehicles to pass one an-
other was to make use of the sidewalks. However,
that didn't matter. Vehicles did not frequent the
side streets, although plenty of cabs were rattling
back and forth on the main thoroughfare which led
us from the railroad station to Plaza Central, the
principal public square and park of the town. It was
square in shape and about 250 feet in diameter, and
was occupied by the Parque de la Catedral (Cathe-
dral Park), all except a twenty-foot strip of street
extending around the outer edges. The street was
also paved with those sounding cobble-stones for car-
riages and horses to rattle upon and murder sleep.
The foliage in the park was thick but, as the dry sea-
son had already set in, it had not the luxuriance and
brilliancy of that on the other side of the isthmus.
The garden of the hotel at Limon, Costa Rica, was
still the most gorgeous bit of vegetation I had seen.
On the west side of the square stood the Cathedral.
Its high square Spanish towers were crusted over
with pearly shells, and adorned with delicate, tree-like
THE CATHEDRAL OF PANAMA AND CORNER OF
THE PARK
PANAMA 93
shrubs which grew upon their venerable walls. On
the same side of the square was a small department
store. On the north side were, besides the business
houses, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company and
the Panama Lottery, the latter being the lower floor
of the bishop's house. On the south side was a book
store and the United States government official build-
ing. On the east side flourished a German saloon, a
money changer, two business houses and Hotel Cen-
tral. In the hotel building, and flanking the main
entrance or corridor on either side, were an immense
barroom and a small barber shop, each apparently
doing a rushing business. Next to the hotel on the
second floor, over a store, was a Spanish club where
cards were played after dark and before dawn.
I tipped the cabman with a nickel, equal to fifty
per cent, of his pay for the ride, and received a polite
bow and "Gracias, Senor."
I was told afterward that the tipping of cabmen
was not customary. The cabmen of Panama are so
honest and disinterested that a pleasant word is as
good as a tip. If only our American negroes, who
believe that one good tip deserves another, would all
go to Panama and do as the Panama negroes do, they
would learn to be tolerant of the whites, who wish
only to be served and left alone.
I do not suppose that all of my Northern readers
take enough interest in their negro brothers to study
the race question. Some think they do not have to.
For the enlightenment of such as do not study, I will
quote from a recent popular novel that was being
94 TO PANAMA
printed in this country while I was in Panama, and
has since been dramatized. The quotation represents
a Southern physician, Doctor Cameron, telling a
statesman named Stoneman how the negroes mal-
treated the whites in South Carolina after having
voted themselves into complete political control of
the state.
" The negro is the master of our state, county,
city and town governments. Every school, college,
hospital, asylum and poorhouse is his prey. What you
have seen is but a sample. Negro insolence grows
beyond endurance. Their women are taught to insult
their old mistresses and mock their poverty as they
pass in their old, faded dresses. Yesterday a black
driver struck a white child of six with his whip, and
when the mother protested, she was arrested by a
negro policeman, taken before a negro magistrate,
and fined ten dollars for "insulting a freedman." '
"Stoneman frowned: 'Such things must be very
exceptional/
" 'They are everyday occurrences and cease to ex-
cite comment. . . . Our school commissioner is
a negro who can neither read nor write. The black
grand jury last week discharged a negro for stealing
cattle and indicted the owner for false imprisonment.
No such rate of taxation was ever imposed on a civ-
ilized people. A tithe of it cost Great Britain her
colonies. There are 5,000 homes in this country —
2,900 of them are advertised for sale by the sheriff to
meet his tax bills. . . . Congress, in addition to
the desolation of the war and the ruin of black rule,
PANAMA 95
has wrung from the cotton farmers of the South a
tax of $67,000,000. Every dollar of this money bears
the stain of the blood of starving people. They are
ready to give up, or to spring some desperate scheme
of resistance '
"The old man lifted his massive head and his great
jaws came together with a snap:
" 'Resistance to the authority of the national gov-
ernment ?'
" 'No ; resistance to the travesty of government
and the mockery of civilization under which we are
being throttled! The bayonet is now in the hands
of a brutal negro militia. The tyranny of military
martinets was child's play to this. . . . Eighty
thousand armed negro troops, answerable to no au-
thority save the savage instincts of their officers, ter-
rorize the state. Every white company has been dis-
banded and disarmed by our scalawag governor. I
tell you, sir, we are walking on the crust of a volca-
no! . . . Black hordes of former slaves, with the
intelligence of children and the instincts of savages,
armed with modern rifles, parade daily in front of their
unarmed former masters. A white man has no right
a negro need respect. The children of the breed of
men who speak the tongue of Burns and Shake-
speare, Drake and Raleigh, have been disarmed and
made subject to the black spawn of an African jun-
gle! Can human flesh endure it? When Goth and
Vandal barbarians overran Rome, the negro was the
slave of the Roman empire. The savages of the North
blew out the light of ancient civilization, but in all
96 TO PANAMA
the dark ages which followed they never dreamed the
leprous infamy of raising a black slave to rule over
his former master! No people in the history of the
world have ever before been so basely betrayed, so
wantonly humiliated and degraded!'
"Stoneman lifted his head in amazement at the
burst of passionate intensity with which the South-
erner poured out his protest.
" 'For a Russian to rule a Pole/ he went on, 'a
Turk to rule a Greek, or an Austrian to dominate an
Italian, is hard enough, but for a thick-lipped, flat-
nosed, spindle-shanked negro, exuding his nauseating
animal odor, to shout in derision over the hearths and
homes of white men and women is an atrocity too
monstrous for belief. Our people are yet dazed by
its horror. My God! when they realize its meaning,
whose arm will be strong enough to hold them?'
" 'I should think the South was sufficiently amused
with resistance to authority/ interrupted Stoneman.
" 'Even so. Yet there is a moral force at the bot-
tom of every living race of men. The sense of right,
the feeling of racial destiny — these are unconquered
and unconquerable forces. Every man in South Caro-
lina to-day is glad that slavery is dead. The war was not
too great a price for us to pay for the lifting of its
curse. And now to ask a Southerner to be the slave of
a slave ' "
That such a terrible description should be taken seri-
ously, even in frenzied fiction, is an indication that
the ambitious negro is out of place in the United
States, where he is as a man without a country. In
PANAMA 97
the North he can not compete with the whites ; in the
South he is a dissatisfied servant. He is too ambi-
tious for his opportunities here. Let him go to the
tropics where the whites can not compete with him.
On our way home from Panama, Doctor Frank,
who had been seasick during the whole of the voy-
age down, said:
"They can say what they please about the tropics,
I am never going there again. Zur Hoelle with the
tropics! They were made for negroes; let the ne-
groes have them. I have said it."
I confess that for the time being I agreed with him.
The full-blooded negro improves and thrives and
finds his wants satisfied in the tropics, and will never
thrive elsewhere. When the tropical negro wants a
rest he takes a siesta, and is rested. When he wants
food he plucks a banana, a pineapple or a mango, and
is nourished. When he is thirsty he climbs a tree,
cuts open a cocoanut, drinks the juice, and is re-
freshed. When he craves riches he stays away from
work to spend a week's earnings, and is rich. When
he wishes to rise in the social scale, he marries above
him, and is stuck-up. When he needs an edu-
cation he learns to come in out of the sun, and
is wise. He does not hanker after social and lit-
erary distinction, and is satisfied. He does not seek
office, and is not disappointed. He does not ask for
tips, and they are not thrust upon him, except by the
Yankee-errant. When he comes to die he gets sick
or is killed and is restored to the impartial dust of his
Mother Earth and, having accumulated neither wealth
7
98 TO PANAMA
nor cultivated tastes that he cannot take with him, re-
mains forever after contented. His life is a bit of
time, his death a bite of dust. The world has been
benefited, but not disturbed by him. He has been
true to his race and has accomplished his destiny; he
has peopled the tropics.
Look at Doctor Cameron's picture and then at mine.
Who would not choose mine for the negro? If he
can not solve his race problem in the United States,
he can go to the tropics, and the tropics will solve
him. The Romans told each other to see Naples and
die. The negroes have not Naples, but they have the
equator. It is theirs. Sooner or later they will have
possession.
As to the mulatto, he is more sinned against than
sinning. He is the product of man's interference
with the divine will as evidenced in God's work. Ex-
tremes, whether of race or rhetoric, do not blend;
they antagonize and distress. This new race mixture
is neither white nor negro. God made the negro,
man made the mulatto. As the blonde race thrives
best in the north temperate climate and the negro in
the tropical, the mulatto would thrive best in the semi-
tropical. In Cuba the lighter colored ones would find
an appropriate climate and congenial surroundings.
In Cuba there is no color line or race prejudice. The
mulattoes could mingle with the whites until in time
they would form a part of a dusky white, intelligent
mixed race. They would be dissolved and their prob-
lem solved. But they must hurry up or the race prob-
lem will get there first.
PANAMA 99
The darker mulattoes might go to Hayti and make
use of their intelligence in reforming society and
running the government, and thus render a real serv-
ice to mankind. It would be a missionary service in
which the missionaries would save themselves also.
This would be easier than to win high station and re-
spect in a white man's country. In Hayti they would
in time become assimilated with the native black race
and become a part of a lighter colored, more intelli-
gent race than exists there to-day. Nothing could
be more simple.
If our negro will not do this (and who said he
would?) he must be diluted or spread out, for the
white man must rule in a white man's country. His
only hope for toleration and assistance is by being in
the minority. If white immigration will accomplish
this in the Southern states then the negro will be
saved ; if not he must save himself by spreading him-
self.
CHAPTER VII
At Gran Hotel Central
El Gran Hotel Central — Its Plan — Prices — Two in a Room —
Church Ruins as Boarding-houses — The Hotel Furniture
— Advantage of Two in a Room — Primitive Service —
The Plumbing — How to Break up Luxurious Habits —
The Temperature — A Walk in the Sun — Baths — Doctor
Echeverrla's Appetizer — Effects of Liquor — His Charac-
ter— The Hotel Food — The Venezuelan Minister — The
Custom of Treating — Cigaret Smoking, a Solitary Vice —
A Visit to the Home of Seiior Arango — Clothing an Injury
— Panama Ladies — A Linguistic Defeat — Spanish Amer-
ican Education — Influence of United States upon Central
American Customs — Language of the Lower Classes —
A Visit to the Southern Club — Cola by the Pint — Beer —
Alcohol Versus Syrup — To Bed in the Dark — The Light
Habit Broken up — A Definition of Happiness — A Miracu-
lous Dawn and an Awakening Town — The Sun Makes
a High Jump — Southern Activity and Northern Indolence
— A Delightful Sponge Bath and an Hour of Exercise —
Coffee and Rolls — Delayed Eggs and Drastic Americans —
A Revolution for an Egg — Reasons for the Light Early
Breakfast— Burnt Coffee as a Delicacy.
Gran Hotel Central was the only second-class hotel
in Panama — there was no first-class one. It is a four-
story stone house built around a square patio, or
court, about fifty feet in diameter, and is situated on
a corner of one of the streets that enter the Plaza
Central. Around the patio on the three upper floors
100
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL
101
run verandas upon which all inside rooms open. The
two sides of the house that front on the plaza and
street have an outer row of front rooms on each floor
parallel with a row of inner ones from which they
are separated by a corridor. The outer rooms are
long and narrow with the window at one end, over-
looking the street, and the door at the other end
opening into the corridor. The inner rooms have no
windows, but have doors at each end, single ones
DIAGRAM OF MY ROOM AND THE INSIDE ROOM ACROSS THE CORRIDOR
opening into the corridor and folding doors on the
veranda in the patio. Fresh air can enter through
the doors only. The stairway is out-of-doors in the
patio, and the landings on the verandas.
Each room contained two beds, and the price was
four dollars a day in gold for a bed and six dollars if
one person engaged the whole room. However, as
two guests were not put in one room until there was
one in each, it was safe to pay for one bed only, ex-
cept upon unusual occasions when there was a great
102 TO PANAMA
crowd of visitors in town. But the best way to travel
on the isthmus is to have a traveling companion to
occupy the other bed. One's wife would do, only the
isthmus traveling would probably not do for her. The
Tivoli, which has since been erected on Ancon hill,
may do for ladies but it is American and therefore
uninteresting. Hotel Central had a sort of monopoly
of the business, since the others were either tenth
class or unclassible, and there were no good furnished
apartments to let in town. I heard of one boarding-
house, but that was already full of permanent board-
ers. In looking for rooms I found but one real estate
agent, an American, and I could not understand how
he made a living without having anything for rent or
sale except church ruins.
When I arrived, all second and third-story outside
rooms had at least one occupant, and as I refused to
occupy one of those inside windowless rooms in which
I would have to sleep with the doors open, I was
lodged three flights up, under the mansard roof. It
was up near the sun, but commanded a good view over
the trees of the park and caught the breeze when there
was one. It was well that I had already seen the best
hotel in Colon, or I should have been shocked by the
rooms of Gran Hotel Central, and my visit to Panama
would have been spoiled. The furniture consisted of
two single iron bedsteads with dirt-stained mattresses
of certain age; a small, worn-out, dingy washstand,
such as are sold at auction after having been discard-
ed from the servants' bedrooms of Chicago boarding
houses ; a plain wooden bureau of the same character,
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 103
and a small, square, rough table which served both
as a center table and writing desk. There were neither
closets nor wardrobes, nor hooks for the disposal of
clothes. The second bed might have served as a pros-
trate clothes-press if the mattress had looked less in-
fected, or if its stains had been covered and concealed.
The floor was of plain, unpolished, foot-worn wood.
In front of each bed was a network of dirt held to-
gether by a small piece of antique ingrain carpet.
However, I was finally settled and satisfied, for I
had the chamber boy nail to the wall a board frame
holding five or six small hooks to serve as closet and
wardrobe. A candle was also furnished, but no pro-
vision made for a light in the corridor. And as there
was no bell to call for service, the only way of procur-
ing help if one were taken sick in the night, was to
grope along the dark corridor and go down the three
flights of starlit steps in the courtyard to the office.
Hence I began to think that there might be an ad-
vantage in having to share a double room with a
stranger; for if either one were taken sick the other
could go down to the office and wake up the hotel
clerk. One's valuables might not be as safe with a
stranger but one's life would be safer, and who would
not prefer to lose his valuables rather than his life?
In the daytime, there was a quick way of communi-
cating with the office, which had survived the centu-
ries. A bell boy, who was also the chamber boy,
messenger boy, etc., was on each floor listening for
the sound of a gong in the court. When the office
wanted to communicate with one of the floors, the
104 TO PANAMA
clerk stepped to the corner of the court, or patio, and
sounded the gong once, twice or three times, accord-
ing to the floor he was calling, and shouted up the
message or information to the boy. In the same way
the boy could call the clerk and shout a message down
to him. In busy times the gong sounded frequently,
and as it was loud enough for the combination bell
boy, chamber boy and man-of-all-work of each floor
to hear, wherever he might be, it must have proved
a great annoyance to occupants of the inside rooms
who wished to take a midday siesta or retire early.
But Napoleon slept soundly on battlefields, which, I
suppose, were more noisy than this patio.
The plumbing was all in one corner of the building
and fortunately could be reached only by a walk along
the open air veranda around the court. It consisted
of two toilet and two bath-rooms on each floor, one
of the bath-rooms with a tub and the other with a
shower. The plumbing system was old and imper-
fect, and would have been condemned in any real
American city.
I have given all of this detail out of kindness to
the landlord, that the guests may know beforehand
what to expect and not give him the trouble I saw a
lady guest give him before she accepted the inevitable.
But I was at my journey's end, had recovered from
the shock caused by the accommodations offered me
at the Washington Hotel at Colon, and had resolved
to enjoy a rest. And this resolve was the key to the
situation, for after I had ceased to expect anything
better I learned that I could perform the functions of
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 105
eating, drinking, sleeping, talking, exercising, sight-
seeing and faultfinding with about the same satisfac-
tion as if in the most luxurious apartment. When one
has nothing to do but lounge, luxuriate, find fault and
get sick, then sumptuous apartments help to make
life endurable. But as I was busy much of the time,
I easily dispensed with modern luxuries, which are bad
habits.
The temperature was 95 degrees F. in the shade at
I P. M. and any pickaninny would have known enough
to come in out of the sun. But I had experienced
that temperature in the less humid and more bracing
atmosphere of Chicago, and so I did as people do in
Chicago during temporary hot spells, viz., went about
actively and courted sunstroke and general tissue dis-
organization instead of taking a siesta. I took a walk
on the Bovedas, which is a promenade on the sea wall
about a quarter of a mile long. Here it is quite cool
in the evening and early morning, but as there are no
trees it is scorching hot at midday. I also wandered
about among the quaint old buildings and church
ruins, and should have enjoyed it but for the extreme
depression caused by the heat and humidity.
When I returned to the hotel I asked for a bath
and found that they only had salt baths. As I wanted
a good cleaning instead of an unclean salting, I gave
it up and resolved to hunt a bath-house in the city,
although so far I had not seen a house, excepting
a few private ones, that looked clean enough for a
bath.
I met Doctor Echeverria before dinner time, and
io6 TO PANAMA
we agreed to eat together during the week of waiting
for the arrival of the medical congresistas. Doc-
tor Echeverria was a Costa Rican and had been called
from San Jose by the United Fruit Company to or-
ganize and develop their hospital and cemetery at
Limon, and superintend all medical and mortuary
matters pertaining to that port, which was the prin-
cipal shipping place of the company.
The doctor, who had not heard from home since
the washout at Colon, although he had sent a daily
cablegram to his wife, invited me to take an appetizer
and go to the cable office before having dinner — and I
could not well refuse. While we were sipping our
poison at one of the dozen or more tables of the spa-
cious barroom, he told me that after coming down to
Port Limon, whose lowland climate was tropical,
from San Jose, whose highland climate was temperate,
he at first drank no wine or liquor. But he soon found
it more and more difficult to do his work; and after
a time became depressed and morbid. His friends
advised him to take a drink of liquor a short time be-
fore the eleven o'clock breakfast and another before
dinner. He did so and his depression passed off, and
he was again able to work with comfort. I do not
know what effect it would have had on me not to take
an appetizer before each meal while at Panama, for
I had no negative experience. Either he and I, or
some one else and I, were always lounging about be-
fore meals, and it was either my turn or that of the
other one to treat.
In Doctor Echeverria's case I suspect that he had
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 107
become anemic and nervous from hard work, a com-
mon occurrence in the tropical lowlands, and the alco-
hol had produced a feeling of comfort in his mind
and diminished his nervous tension, and had thus
acted as medicine. A man who has a great deal of
active physical work to do in the tropics, and gets up
early and does a large part of it before eating anything
except a roll and coffee, is apt to feel exhausted if he
keeps on working during the heat of the forenoon,
and to actually lose strength. The coffee and roll
breakfast is for those whose work is not physically
very active or prolonged, or is done later in the day.
I am the more inclined to think the liquor relieved
him by its anesthetic influence upon his nerves rather
than by any curative action, because I have tried it
faithfully on several occasions for indigestion, for
loss of flesh, for insomnia and for debility, and have
never experienced any beneficial results. In England
I drank a bottle of Bass' ale at my six o'clock dinner
and another at bedtime for four months without de-
riving benefit, either by a recovery of the flesh I had
lost or by rapid improvement of the debility of my
overtaxed nervous system. I think that, with the rest
I enjoyed, I would have recovered my usual health
more quickly if I had not tasted the ale. In France
I drank a pint bottle of claret at the noon and evening
meals for several months, and perceived no benefit
either in feelings or in appearance. In Panama I
tried similar tactics, and when I arrived home was in a
poorer condition in every way than when I left.
Perhaps if I had eaten less, and drunk no liquor, I
io8 TO PANAMA
might have experienced benefit from my trip, but it
would have meant social segregation. So I feel that
I have now done my duty by alcoholic beverages. 1
have made a failure, but my conscience is clear. I
can not make myself over again and must give them
up, let come what may.
As an anesthetic, and therefore as a medicine in cer-
tain irritable conditions of the nerves, I have found it
of temporary benefit, but not curative. My experi-
ence with sherry on the voyage back from Colon to
Panama was good, but it did not prevent the seasick-
ness from returning whenever the ship took a lively
turn. Hence I would advise those who have no defi-
nite ideas about alcohol to consider it as a medicine
to be prescribed by a first-class doctor ; or a powerful
poison to be taken as a means of dissipation while
health lasts, but not as a salutary stimulant or a tonic.
Liquors stimulate the stomach but also favor gastric
fermentation and a tendency to inflammation; they
bloat and fatten people sometimes, but do so tempo-
rarily by interfering with the destruction and excre-
tion of the waste material of the body; they make
people permanently rosy, but do so by dilating and
weakening the superficial blood-vessels, and they be-
tray the cause of the rosiness by producing a charac-
teristic mottled marking of the cheeks and crimson
rotundity of the nose, to say nothing of whiskey pim-
ples. If taken in small quantities during active exercise
alcohol may be burned up in the body for immediate
use, but if taken at other times it burns the tissues and
permanently injures them. Inflammation of the stom-
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 109
ach, hobnail liver, Bright's disease, heart-degeneration,
dropsy, apoplexy and premature death from some acute
diseases that would not prove fatal in a healthy being,
are ordinary fates of those who have tried to improve
on nature by the use of alcohol as a tonic or stimulant.
Impaired brain power and transmission of such defect
to the offspring, and thus the breeding of degenerates,
is perhaps the worst result.
Doctor Echeverria was about forty years old, had
received his medical education at New York, had
practiced several years at San Jose and, after being
called down to Port Limon by the United Fruit Com-
pany, had been sent by them to London to study trop-
ical diseases. How much his student life in the Unit-
ed States and his sojourn in England, had affected
his character I do not know, but he had that gentle-
ness of speech and quietness of demeanor which had
always seemed to me to be found only in the Anglo-
Saxon countries. And he had also that Spanish
courtesy which we seldom see among Anglo-Saxons
in its best form. Altogether he was one of the most
perfect gentlemen I had met, and it was a great treat
to sit tete-a-tete at table with him twice daily. He
greatly admired our government, and thought that
the faith it had kept with Cuba was a sign of true
greatness. We are the only nation whose government
lives up to the requirements of a Christian nation.
I was agreeably surprised at the hotel dinners,
for I had been told that I should not like the
hotel. I suspect that this somewhat prevalent bad
impression had been made by the fact that when great
no TO PANAMA
crowds visit Panama, the hotel becomes crowded and
the service is for the time insufficient. The provisions
then become scanty, and canned salmon and canned
vegetables intrude themselves disagreeably and per-
haps unpardonably, although good food canned is
better than poor food that has not been canned.
After dinner we met Senor McGill, who was the
political representative and local "chip-bearer" of
Venezuela, that intrepid and warlike South American
republic that is not afraid of anybody, and would
rather take a thrashing than refuse to fight ; and which
by means of its pugnacity and pertinacity has won the
respect of the world. However, Senor McGill was
everything but what I expected to see. He did not
inspire me with terror. He was a slender, soft-voiced,
mild-mannered, agreeable young bachelor whose bulg-
ing hip-pocket contained nothing but cigarets, who
liked soft drinks and who seemed to be seeking any-
thing rather than a quarrel. And I suspect that
President Castro is not as black as he has been paint-
ed, and that during the recent political crises all he
desired of the great powers was to be let alone. From
his patronym, I should infer that Senor McGill was
a descendant of one of those scions of Highland or
Hibernian nobility who, in earlier days, either with
or without letters of marque from the English govern-
ment, ravaged the Spanish main, plundered Spaniards
by preference and others without reference, and
finally settled down as Venezuelan nabobs. But he
was not that kind of a murderer; he was only a lady-
killer. It seemed strange to see a McGill who could not
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL in
speak English or Gaelic or Hibernian. Yet, he did
speak English — not that fluent, eloquent, consonant
crowded variation that we in the United States are
accustomed to hear from Macs and Mc's, nor the
rough-and-ready dissonance of the naturalized Kai-
ser- Wilhelmite ; but the soft disarticulation of the
Spaniard who knows English until he begins to talk
it, when the difficulties and duplicities of its pro-
nunciation and his Iberic infirmity in sounding con-
sonants bring to naught all of his knowledge of its
phonology and construction.
After we had conversed awhile in a sort of crazy-
quilted, downy mixture of Anglo-Spanish, he put the
polished chip on his shoulder and invited us to knock
it off, or take something. So we took something. It
was the tyrannic custom of the country, to be fighting
to kill your enemy or "taking something" to kill
yourself. Taking something was about the only en-
tertainment (?) available in the evening except ci-
garet smoking, which was mostly a solitary vice in
Panama, and exempt from the sociable treating habit ;
for every man carried his own package of favorite
cigarets and was smoking them, or supposed to be
smoking them, all of the time. Games of cards were
of course popular at the clubs, but were an expensive
entertainment for people of ordinary financial re-
sources who cared to have money for use in other
ways.
Doctor Echeverria had several acquaintances in the
city and offered to introduce me to some of them. Ac-
cordingly after an hour of conversation with Senor
112 TO PANAMA
McGill, we left him to his cigarets and "treating"
friends, and walked and mopped foreheads for three
blocks down the street to call upon Senor Arango, a
prominent young engineer of the place. The heat
had forced the senor, who, like myself, looked as if
his fat had already been melted and run off, to re-
move his coat, vest and collar. He, of course, put
them on when we arrived and was thus prepared to
liquefy with us. I sympathized with him for having
to live in a country where, all the year around, collars,
vests and coats were physical encumbrances yet so-
cial necessities. Clothing is supposed to protect and
comfort the body, not to punish and injure it. The
negroes have an advantage over the whites in this
respect, for they adapt their clothing to the climate
rather than to convention. But we cannot all be
negroes, and there are drawbacks to being either white
or black.
We were very pleasantly and cordially entertained.
The ladies were animated and interesting, but unfor-
tunately they did not converse in English. In the
North my Spanish seemed good enough, but when
exposed in the warm climate of Panama, and served
to ladies, it became mushy and flavorless. It was cold
storage stuff. The Panamanians speak so fast that
even Doctor Echeverria, a native of Costa Rica, often
found it difficult to understand them. But when it
came to catching the meaning of the animated, fast
talking ladies, and then framing animated, quick an-
swers appropriate to the fairness of their sex and
commensurate with the chivalric euphemism of the
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 113
language, I was glad to talk plain English with Senor
Arango. Having studied in the United States, he
spoke our language fluently and with a soft, Southern
accent that was charming.
Many Central Americans obtain a part of their
education in the States and thus learn to speak En-
glish, and the building of the canal by Americans
will cause many more of them to study it. Indeed, I
think that in time the Panamanians, as well as the
Cubans and Porto Ricans, will become North Ameri-
canized in their customs and habits, except in so far
as they will be prevented by the enervating climatic
conditions. South American young men more often
go to France or Spain to complete their academic
education, or take post graduate courses, and thus
not only cultivate the French language, but are influ-
enced largely by French customs and ideas. But the
Panamanian ladies, who, of course, do not travel ex-
tensively, will now have a chance to learn and prac-
tice English at home, and perhaps lose thereby a por-
tion of their charm. The Spanish spoken by the edu-
cated class of women is quite melodious, but that of
lower class, native women, as we heard it on the
streets, is anything but agreeable to listen to. They
articulate rapidly and in a high pitch of voice, re-
minding one of the cackle of a hen who has just laid
an egg, but with less accentuation. The cackle goes
on until the breath is all out, and begins again with
the next breath.
When we arose to go, Senor Arango insisted on
walking and perspiring with us, keeping on his
8
H4 TO PANAMA
clothes for the purpose, and led us to the Southern
Club in a three-story building near the plaza. As in
nearly all buildings in Panama, the street floor was
occupied by a store, which left the two upper ones
for the use of the club. He took us to the second
floor, where we found a bar and a bar-tender, but
no one else — not even a mouse. What a lively club,
I thought, with nobody but a bar-tender in it. No
mischief going on. I did not know then, as I learned
afterward when introduced to the club by Doctor
Cook of Panama, that the reading and card rooms
were on the third floor, and that it was lively up
there where the seats and sitters were not all empty.
After the heat of our walk we were glad to seat
ourselves on the little Spanish balcony at one of the
windows and take the customary "treatment," viz., a
fresco. Senor Arango, who must have been younger
than he looked, said that 'cola was very nice, so we
ordered it. It was pop flavored with that name. Doc-
for Echeverria, who was inclined to be fleshy and had
perspired freely, enjoyed it as any hot and thirsty
man enjoys cool drinks, and he ordered more. Our
host proposed a third round, but I discouraged it. It
is no wonder that Central Americans take only an
orange and coffee for their early breakfast, when they
drink animated syrups in this way of evenings. Yet,
after all, there is but little harm in spoiling a break-
fast that consists of nothing to eat. Preliminary to
separating for the night we sauntered over to the hotel
and had another treat. My companions wanted more
cola, but I grew desperate and impolite, and said that
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 115
my stomach couldn't stand any more cola or nectar;
they were too sweet for my temperament, which pre-
ferred something bitter. The two pints I had already
consumed were working like syrup in the sun, and I
preferred to die for a sheep rather than a lamb, and
would take a pint of Milwaukee beer to hurry up and
complete the fermentation so that I might perhaps
get a little convalescent sleep toward morning. Moral-
ly speaking, it was wicked for me to take any more
alcoholic stimulant after having had the usual liberal
Panama allowance during the day, but physically con-
sidered the end justified the means. The stomach as
a vital organ had as much right to consideration as
the head, and the head should share the evils of social
customs with the stomach. Alcohol has always done
me much less harm than sugar, and when I unfortu-
nately have to choose between two devils I tackle the
least. The two gentlemen gave no evidence of their
surprise at my unceremonious declaration of honest
opinion about their favorite fresco, for they were
gentlemen. I was among gentlemen, and could say
what I pleased without danger of open reproof. One
can not always do so in Chicago and the Great West.
After they had consumed and complimented the
Milwaukee beverage just as if it had been their fa-
vorite one, we parted, Sefior Arango proposing a visit
to his summer home on the sabanas (prairies) on
the following Sunday.
I climbed up to my sublunar habitation, and as the
electric lights on the plaza cast nearly as much light
about my bed as the candle would have given, I did
n6 TO PANAMA
not light up. I concluded that candlelight would be
of more service to malarious mosquitoes than to me.
In Chicago I should have suffered great inconven-
ience at having no light in my bedroom, but having
accepted the situation in Panama and having broken
up the light habit, I was quite as happy without it.
Happiness did not consist in having private illumina-
tion to enable me to see myself go to bed, but in be-
ing able to do without it. Unhappiness consists mainly
of imaginary wants.
There were no window-panes in the hotel, and when
the heavy shutters were opened up widely the cool
night air came in freely and the mosquitoes remained
outside under the electric lights, enabling me to settle
myself to sleep with comparative peace and content-
ment. My experience on shipboard had rendered my
sleep proof against noises, and had thoroughly broken
in and hardened me to mattresses that were made to
be cool but not to be comfortable.
After what seemed to be a short sleep I awoke, and
noticed that the room was much darker than when I
had retired. In a few minutes the cathedral clock
across the square struck one and I raised myself in
bed and looked toward it. But the electric light that
had illumined the dial was out, as were, in fact, all
of the street lights, and I could hardly see where the
clock was. I inferred that the one stroke was for
one o'clock and lights out, and wondered that I should
wake up so early. I turned over to go to sleep again,
but while turning over I thought that the room seemed
a little lighter. I immediately turned back again and
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 117
saw that it was really lighter. I raised upon my elbow,
looked out and saw quite plainly by the clock, which
could hardly be seen before I had turned over in bed,
that the time was twenty-five minutes to six. Within
five minutes of profound darkness it had become light
enough for me to see the time of day by the clock.
By twenty minutes of six it was daylight, and by a
quarter to six it was almost as bright as at noonday.
For a Chicagoan who had never been told or taught
of such a dawn, and why it was so, to have gone to
Panama, and then to have waked up early for the first
time after leaving Chicago, such a sudden daybreak
would have seemed a new miracle worthy of being
compared with the standing still of the sun in Joshua's
time — only this time the sun had changed his tactics,
and had taken a sudden leap over the horizon.
A couple of carts rattled over the cobblestones at
six o'clock, whereupon I got up, looked out and saw
workmen beginning work on a new building a short
distance from the plaza. Men appeared on the street
and the town seemed astir almost in a moment. Clerks
were opening doors and window shutters, and one fel-
low was sprinkling the street in front of his store
with a two-gallon sprinkling can such as are used for
flowerbeds. It seemed strange to see full daylight
develop in fifteen minutes and a sleeping city assume
full activity in a half hour. In the North we consider
Southerners indolent because they rest two hours in
the middle of the day. But it is a wonder that they
do not accuse us of indolence because our city workers
sleep two or three hours after daylight in the summer
n8 TO PANAMA
mornings, and go to work at eight or nine o'clock
when it is hot, instead of at six when it is cool.
My room was cool and pleasant at six-thirty, and
I got out my clean clothes, consisting of gauze under-
wear, a negligee shirt, duck trousers and a skeleton
coat. I felt, however, that I ought not to contaminate
them by getting into them until I had taken a bath.
I had perspired tubfuls of water since leaving New
Orleans, ten days previously, but had not had a con-
vincing, conscience-quieting, fresh-water, hot bath;
only cold salt ones. Perspiration and dust, rain and
disease had all been at me and about me. In the streets
and in the barber shop I had seen skin diseases and
hairless patches on heads, faces and necks, and felt sure
that, like tobacco smoke (which is visible and scent-
able), some of the dust, or germs from diseased in-
dividuals, must have been wafted about me and into
my hair, clothes and skin although I could not see
them. There was only one way out of the difficulty
and that was by means of baths, frequent,
and uncompromising, soapy and scrubby. Plenty of
soap and water outside, and alcohol and pop inside,
seemed to be the only way to live out one's shortened
life in Panama.
Not having a magic ring or an oriental lamp to rub,
I scratched my head while I wished for a bath-tub —
and immediately found a small wash-basin. I wished
for fresh water, and found a large pitcherful. I
wished for a portable shower bath, and found my
hands, two of them. I preferred a pitcherful of cold
fresh water and a wash-basin to a bath-tub full of
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 119
cold brine. I also reflected that a cold sponge bath
with plenty of soap could be made more cleansing
than a shower or tub bath with cold water, because
the sponge bath could be kept up indefinitely, or until
one was clean; whereas the cold shower or tub bath
was a chilling affair, and must necessarily be of brief
duration and not very soapy. In order not to injure
the ceiling of the room below, I spread newspapers
on the floor before the washstand, poured the wash-
bowl two thirds full of water and stood for a moment
shivering before it, for the cool night air still lingered
in the room. It was a delightful sensation to feel chilly
within eight degrees of the equator and only a few
hours after the all-day boiling spell of the day before.
I rapidly washed my face, neck and shoulders, then
wet my head and lathered it thoroughly with soap.
In order to get the soap and dirt all out of my hair
without irritating or infecting my eyes, I stood on
my head in the washbasin (as far as my head and
shoulders were concerned) and soaked and washed
out the soap. I then changed water, and stood my
head and neck and shoulders up side down again in
the basin to rinse them. After wiping them I began
to feel warm and in a mood for more work. I soaped
my left chest and arm, then put my left elbow in the
bath-tub, leaned my body over it and splashed and
soaked off the soap, using my hand as a movable
shower bath. I then did the same to the other side.
Not being a woman, I had neither washrag nor pow-
der rag to wash and dry myself, but had two heavy
bath towels. The towel was a great success as a
120 TO PANAMA
washrag in holding water and soaking off the soap;
the ordinary little feminine washrag is a miserable
makeshift and does not deserve the favor it enjoys.
After a long period of cold splashing with my washrag
and another of dry scrubbing with my powder rag, I
transferred my bath-tub to the floor and stood in it
right side up, and was able to complete the bath to
my joy and satisfaction with the bowl and water that
had originally been intended for face and hands only.
As a schoolboy I had been an amateur contortionist,
and was not disabled like most of my friends by the
fear of bursting a bloodvessel or straining my heart.
But what pleased me most of all was that I had had
an hour of active exercise, and felt strengthened and
refreshed by it. I had found an antidote to the sun's
deadly rays, a life-saving remedy. After getting
my light tropical clothes on, I felt as if I wanted
something more than the cup-of-coffee-and-half-a-roll-
early-breakfast of the natives, and hurried down to
the dining-room.
Early breakfast, called "coffee," was served from six
to eight o'clock on a long table in a small dining-
room. Near each end of the table were a dish of
oranges and a large platter upon which were piled
round water rolls, similar to our round Vienna rolls.
Two waiters stood at a sideboard, each with a long-
handled tin pot of coffee in one hand and a correspond-
ing pot of hot, unskimmed, fresh milk in the other,
ready to serve a mixture of strong coffee and hot
milk in any proportion asked for.
I found three men at the table, a young, slender,
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 121
dark-skinned Panamanian and two elderly, dignified-
looking, gray-haired and gray-eyed Americans about
sixty years of age. The Panamanian was sipping a
cup of coffee, smoking his cigaret and reading a
newspaper that lay beside the coffee cup. By the time
his cigaret was half smoked the coffee cup was emp-
tied, and he left the room — one of those fellows who
can eat anything but food, and drink anything but
water. I was sure that he had not had an appetizing
sponge bath that morning, or he would not have
breakfasted on a few whiffs of smoke. However, he
had the advantage of me in being able to satisfy his
appetite with other whiffs if he became hungry before
noon. Perhaps he was a club man and had worked
his head and stomach hard all night. While I was
helping myself to an orange, the large, portly, digni-
fied-looking American at the head of the table sud-
denly called out in a loud American voice:
"Where is that head waiter ? Why doesn't he bring
my eggs?"
The two waiters immediately rushed out of the room
and back, and tried to say in broken English that the
head waiter was not there. Since nothing but coffee,
rolls and oranges belonged to the first breakfast, it
was necessary to order the eggs and pay extra for
them, and if one came down pretty early (as heavy-
eating, light sleepers usually do), there was apt to
be some delay in getting them. Hot fires and head
waiters were not usually going at so early an hour.
The old man glared at the waiters fiercely and they
stared at him stupidly, not daring to drop their eyes.
After a few moments he again broke out :
122 TO PANAMA
"Hasn't that head waiter been found yet? Where
is the second head waiter — or the third head waiter?
Telegraph to Spain for a live one. This is great serv-
ice for eight dollars a day. Not even anything to
eat when you pay extra for it. If you want an egg
you've got to fight for it — nothing short of a revolu-
tion will make a hen lay, or an egg cook in this coun-
try."
Just then a waiter, rendered nervous by the, to him,
unintelligible thunder, allowed a roll to drop on the
floor as he was passing them around, and the other
waiter quickly picked it up and put it back among the
rolls on the table. The second old man who was also
waiting for eggs, exchanged glances with me, and I
expected him also to speak his mind about the eggs
and rolls and waiters ; but he did not, for he undoubt-
edly felt that the efforts of the first speaker would
bring his eggs also, and that all of the rolls had been
in dirty hands and baskets, and on dusty tables and
floors long ago. By way of relieving the tension I said
to the one who had been complaining:
"These waiters are native Panamanians and do not
understand United States, and how to wait on Ameri-
cans."
"They are Panamaniacs," he growled, "and don't
know how to do anything but wait. They'd wait until
a man starved. If these Panamaniacs would stir
around and do more working and less waiting they
would have an appetite themselves for breakfast, and
learn the use of food."
"I'll speak to them in Spanish. Perhaps it will
AT GRAN HOTEL CENTRAL 123
start them , up," I said. So I called to one of them
in a loud voice :
"Camerero! Busqueme un toreador." (Waiter!
Bring me a bull-fighter.)
"Toreador?" (Bull-fighter) he exclaimed with a
look of amazement.
"Si, toreador," I said. "For que no? Es para
tener este naranja." (Yes; bull-fighter. Why not?
He is to hold this orange.)
"Pardone, Senor, creo que Vd. quiere un tenedor"
(I beg pardon, sir, I think you want a fork.)
"Como yd. quiere" (As you like), I answered, as
if I had made no mistake. "Es to mismo. Quiero
ensenar a estos Norte Americanos como se come una
naranja. Ellos no saben nada, absolutamente nada.
No saben ni comer ni hablar." (It's the same thing.
I wish to teach these North Americans how to eat an
orange. They know nothing, absolutely nothing.
They neither know how to eat nor talk.)
The waiter seemed much relieved by this informa-
tion and said in Spanish that waiters had to be smart
men, but travelers who paid for the privilege, had the
right to be fools; and went out smiling with polite
rage. A moment later the eggs were brought in and
the two old gentlemen were soon busy and better na-
tured. The milder one who had allowed the other to
do the talking said to me:
"I see that your Spanish did some good/*
"Yes," chimed in the fiery one, "when you talk to a
horse you must talk horse."
As the result of my long sponge bath, I felt that I
124 TO PANAMA
myself could enjoy three or four boiled eggs, but I
remembered the old adage: "When in Rome do as
the Romans do." As we were to have a hearty meal
at eleven o'clock, eggs eaten now would spoil that
meal, or if they did not, then the hearty meal eaten so
soon after eggs would spoil them. In fact, the fat old
gentleman was just recovering from an attack of rheu-
matism, probably brought on by eating and sitting
too much. Accordingly I drank two cups of half cof-
fee and half milk and ate two oranges and two rolls,
and left the table feeling quite comfortable inwardly.
The Central American takes his cafe-au-lait with
merely enough nourishment to prevent a feeling of
emptiness or weakness during the forenoon, but not
enough to prevent an appetite for a hearty meal at
eleven o'clock, which is usually only three or four
hours later.
The Central American coffee is not only made quite
strong, but it has a bitter, resinous taste which is de-
veloped by roasting it until burnt, and then by boiling
it. At first I did not relish it, but after learning to
dilute it with an equal quantity of the hot, unskimmed
milk, I became very fond of it. Its heavy flavor
seemed to give it something of the taste of food as
well as being a drink.
CHAPTER VIII
For Doctors Only
Barber Shops and Disease — Chance for a Trust and a Public
Benefaction — Tropical Hotel Clerk from Canada — A
Visit to the Hospital at Ancon — Beautiful Location —
Housekeeping under Difficulties — Genial and Gentle-
manly Doctors — The Buildings Left by the French —
Details — Prevalence of Malaria — Drinking Water — Why
the People of Panama Ought to be Dead — The Spoiled
Child— Why the Eleven O'clock Breakfast is Enjoyable
at Anc6n — A Specimen Hotel Breakfast.
Doctor Echeverria did not appear for a half hour
after I had finished my coffee and rolls. While wait-
ing for him I had my hair trimmed, and experienced
the pleasure of sitting in the chair next to a dirty-
looking man with a skin disease which had caused his
hair to fall out in patches, and which caused mine to
stand up all over, as the barber's assistant began using
comb and shears on him and making the hair and
dust fly in my direction. If this man had come an
hour earlier he might, without my knowledge, have
been shorn on the same chair that I occupied, and with
the same comb, scissors and unwashed hands that
were used on my head. I felt like resolving never
to go into a barber shop again, but knew that I could
not live up to the resolution. I would have to step up
and take my share of dirt and microbes and have
"5
126 TO PANAMA
them rubbed in at least once a month or two, for I
could not trim my own hair. I could not help repeat-
ing that good old saying, "God made Barbarians and
seeing that they were no good, called them Barbers."
The proprietor of the shop was a gentle old Ger-
man, too good natured and old to learn the technic or
meaning of cleanliness. He had cut hair and beards
in Germany, the United States and Cuba, and knew
all about his business except cleanliness. Cleanliness
in barbers is like biblical honesty in business. While
having my hair trimmed and my scalp infected by the
old fellow, I asked him if he did a better business in
Panama than he had done in the United States. He
said:
"Ogh, yes. In the Unidet States I did a goot pis-
ness, yet not such a pig pisness ass here. Dere I wass
only a boor barbeer, but here I make much money and
am a pig man." — He was.
The want of cleanliness of the barbers, and the
custom of using public combs and brushes at hotels,
clubs and entertainments accounts for nine tenths of
the baldness in the world. Barbers' brushes bear the
germs of baldness and badness from scalp to scalp,
and their infected fingers rub it in. One should always
go home and wash his head with soap and water, or
with alcohol, as soon as possible after a barber has
had his comb and black-bristled brush on it. One
should also furnish his own comb and brush, razor
and mug, and insist that the barber wash his hands
thoroughly before touching them. Under no circum-
stances should he be allowed to give the head a "dry
rub."
FOR DOCTORS ONLY 127
There is a chance to make millions of dollars and
benefit millions of people in the barber business. A
trust that would teach its employees an appropriate
antiseptic technic; would provide combs, brushes and
all kinds of barbers' instruments adapted to steriliza-
tion by strong antiseptics or by heat each time they
were used; and would provide aseptic shaving, hair
cutting, epillation, electric vibration, facial massage,
baths and hairdressing, as well as clean furniture,
floors, hands and men, would drive the old dirt-men
out of the business in a short time. It would at least
force them to wash their hands between customers.
Such a trust would, of course, raise, or try to raise,
prices, and thus "scalp" the community, and be cen-
sured for it. But it is better to be scalped than bald-
headed, to be expensively clean than economically
dirty. It would constitute a great reform, which
should be an aim of all trusts.
How a cleanly man can go and await his turn in a
barber shop to be shaved two or three times weekly by
dirty hands, and be combed by dirty combs and
brushes, and have his head dry-rubbed by hands that
have been dry-rubbing other heads without being
washed, when he can do the same himself at home
with clean hands and implements and without waste
of time, is almost incomprehensible. To gaze into a
barber shop is bad enough. Flashy mirrors and mas-
sive furniture cannot compensate for dirty methods.
Barbers dare not use brushes with white bristles, for
they would look frightful before night. They would
have to be washed.
lag TO PANAMA
The hotel clerk was a polyglot French Canadian
who, like the barber, the barber's assistant and a large
proportion of the other trained employees about town,
had traveled considerably before coming to Panama,
and would probably travel again in search of more
congenial climes and more remunerative work as soon
as rivals should come and conditions improve. He
spoke French well and Spanish and English indiffer-
ently, and was willing to talk to any one until some one
else claimed his attention. He fitted in his place very
nicely, for he possessed that complicated lack of sys-
tem that forms an essential part of tropical hotel man-
agement. He was unfailingly obliging and affably ir-
ritable, as forgetful and unreliable men are apt to be.
In giving him orders, it was always well to wait and
see them carried out. If one wanted anything sent to
one's room, or brought down, it was well to wait
until the gong sounded, the boy called down, the clerk
called up, and the message was correctly delivered and
intelligently understood; otherwise it was liable to be
given wrong, be misunderstood or be forgotten. When
time hung heavily on one's hands this supervision of
the clerk and bell boy served to help the hot half hours
move on.
Doctor Echeverria appeared at last, full of half a
roll and an orange and ready for the morning's work.
He had sent his daily cablegram to his wife before tak-
ing coffee, but had not yet heard from her. As he
was the official head of medical affairs at Limon, he
wished to be prompt in paying his respects to the
chief sanitary officer of the Canal Zone, Dr. Wm. G.
FOR DOCTORS ONLY 129
Gorgas, and the chief of the Marine Hospital service,
Dr. H. R. M. Carter, and the chief of the Quarantine
department, Maj. L. A. La Garde. He could not rest
until he had done his duty as a public health officer,
a brother physician and a courteous gentleman. He
did not realize that the social and ceremonial con-
science of the Anglo-American race was not as sen-
sitive as that of the Latin-American. While these
chiefs would have been glad to see him, they were
bound up in their work and would not have taken no-
tice of a little delay on his part. So we drove to Ancon
Hill, which was a short distance beyond the railroad
station, and arrived there about nine o'clock. Leaving
the cab we slowly walked up the beautiful avenue that
led along the hillside through the grounds.
The location of the hospital on the slope of Ancon
Hill was certainly well chosen, for the ground was
high and the view unobstructed. The driveway was
shaded by "palm trees and bordered with well-kept,
sloping lawns upon which neat-looking frame houses
were scattered. It seemed to me almost preferable
to be sick up there than well in the dingy, dusty, sun-
baked city below. The medical officers certainly had
the choice place of residence on the isthmus, for here
were fresh breezes, clean, well-drained grounds, quiet
surroundings and a charming outlook upon semi-
mountainous, tropical scenery. The Tivoli has since
been built here and its construction must certainly
have given the "black eye" to Gran Hotel Central.
But to those who wish to know what Panama really
is Gran Central is the place. Those who go to Tivoli
9
130 TO PANAMA
read guide books and forget; those who go to Gran
Central need no guide books, and never forget.
We did not find any of the chiefs at their homes on
the hillside; they were down town at their offices in
the government building in Plaza Central, from which
we had started. We had gone from them instead of
to them. These men get up at daybreak, take a cup of
coffee, and presumably half a roll, and go down to
their offices and transact a good day's office work by
eleven o'clock. Then they drive back home, eat a
hearty breakfast and remain in their garden of para-
dise with their families until the midday heat begins
to be tempered by the regular afternoon breeze, when
they go to work again.
But we had a pleasant chat with Mrs. LaGarde, the
wife of Doctor LaGarde. She gave us all sorts of
information from a woman's standpoint, and proved
to us that although the exteriors were beautiful and
perhaps enjoyable at Ancon, and the hospital a charm-
ing place to get sick and get well in, the comforts of
housekeeping and living constituted, according to
United States habits and standards, a sort of seamy
side of life for these hard-working semi-exiles. The
houses had not the places to put things in, nor the
conveniences for cooking and other details of house-
keeping that are considered essential in the North.
Closet room is a Yankee luxury. Clothes would not
dry except in the sun and wind, and if put away would
get wet again. Insects were annoying and screens
had not yet been provided. Alterations about the
house had to be made, and makeshifts adopted. There
FOR DOCTORS ONLY I3i
was neither running water nor drainage. But Mrs.
LaGarde was cheerful and even breezy in her talk,
just as if she not only enjoyed giving the information
but also overcoming the difficulties. With the assist-
ance of the United States she has, I believe, overcome
some of them since.
Doctor Carter's son hunted up the young resident
doctors. They were engaged peeping into micro-
scopes, but they cheerfully gave up the private matinee
they were having over their germs and, after having
given us a peep at malarial high life, showed us
through the hospital buildings. We found Mr. Car-
ter and the young doctors exceedingly painstaking
and courteous, and we afterward also found Doctor
Gorgas, Doctor Carter and Doctor LaGarde even
more so. A more genial and gentlemanly set of men
in a quiet American way I have scarcely met. They
seemed to have become imbued with the spirit of
Spanish courtesy without having lost their American
frankness and sincerity, and bore their great and un-
usual responsibilities with cheerfulness and modesty.
There were about twenty hospital wards, in sepa-
rated one-story frame buildings, arranged in three
curved tiers on the beautifully terraced slope of the
hill. In fact, the ornamental grounds were so large
and elaborate that the expense of keeping them up
was quite an item. But the French had plenty of
money, while they had it, and spent it artistically and
generously, while they spent it. And there is no doubt
but they built well, since the majority of the houses
were found in a good state of preservation, and have
been repaired at small expense.
132 TO PANAMA
Ancon Hospital had at the time less than a hundred
patients, two thirds of whom were negroes, and over
half of whom were employees of the canal commis-
sion. To be laid up in those clean, well-kept wards
and be waited upon by those tidy, cheerful nurses
must have been a great luxury to the poor black dev-
ils. To die there would be enjoying themselves to
death, no matter where they finally went to.
Superficial swamps all along the Zone were being
drained or filled, in hopes of exterminating the ma-
laria breeding mosquitoes. About the Ancon hos-
pital, malaria had already practically disappeared. The
extent of malaria in the Canal Zone had been demon-
strated by blood analyses. At Bohio the blood of for-
ty-four school children had been examined and the
malarial organism found in twenty-nine cases. After
they had taken twelve grains of quinine daily for ten
days the organism was only found in five. It was also
found that seventy per cent, of the 12,000 inhabitants
of twelve villages along the Zone had the malarial
organism in the blood. This is largely the cause of
the prevalent anemia.
Colonel Gorgas had been appointed health •officer
of the city of Panama and of Colon by the Panama
government, and health departments were being or-
ganized in both cities. A systematic cleaning of dirty
places (a Herculean task) and a rigid enforcement
of modern sanitary laws and regulations had already
been begun. The Zone commission was at work con-
structing the new reservoir, about twelve miles from
the canal, out of which Panama and the whole Zone
FOR DOCTORS ONLY 133
have since been supplied with healthy water. The
people of Panama were using rain-water collected in
cisterns for drinking and washing. In the rainy sea-
son the streets flowed with it and the cisterns over-
flowed; but in the dry season many of the
reservoirs were empty, and there was practi-
cally a water famine up to the time of my
visit. Those who could afford it, drank imported
waters, such as White Rock, Apollinaris, Vichy, etc.
Why the people of Panama are not all dead long
ago is past finding out. The animal kingdom from
the mosquito up has preyed upon them, and the ele-
ments have conspired against them, drenching
them for six months of the year and burning them and
devitalizing them during the other six. They have
also conspired against themselves, having had a civil
war on an average of almost once a year. The coun-
try has been ravaged by adventurers and pirates in
past centuries and beggared by Colombia in the pres-
ent one. They have scarcely any developed resources.
But now they have run under the wing of the United
States, who will kill the mosquitoes for them, provide
hospitals to take them in out of the sun and rain,
make fresh ice-water to keep them cool, arbitrate for
them to keep their peace, build a canal for them to
increase their business, and will keep out the foreign
foe when they are threatened. If such a sudden
change from prostration to prosperity does not spoil
the child then it deserves all it gets, and is fit to sur-
vive. The French spoiled the Panamanians some-
what, and made them dependent and parasitic, but it
134 TO PANAMA
is to be hoped that our influence will be to encourage
the development and financial independence of the
country.
We were cordially invited to remain at Ancon and
breakfast with the officers and their families at eleven
o'clock. The breakfast seemed to be looked forward
to with great pleasure and was made quite a social
event by them. And I do not wonder that they en-
joyed it after doing a good day's work while fasting.
Their aim was never to put off until after breakfast
what could be done before. They must have been rav-
enous by eleven o'clock. But as our blood was heated
and our collars wilting, we thought it better to get back
to the hotel before the day became hotter.
After our customary appetizer, to keep away Doc-
tor Echeverria's melancholy and fulfill my vow to
do as the Panamanians did, we went to our rooms and
refreshed ourselves with cold water and fresh linen
(both externally), and were prepared to appreciate
a substantial breakfast. They brought us first a large
dish of tiny clams (coquillos) cooked in their shells.
These varied from the size of a small split pea to
that of a lima bean, and were as finely flavored and
delicious as their delicate physique indicated. We then
had some very hot shirred eggs and made them hotter
with a little Worcestershire sauce, which gave them
a fine, tropical flavor. Then came Italian spaghetti
daintily served, a medium-tough nicely cooked beef-
steak, some juicy pineapple, too sweet to bear any
sugar, and a small cup of deliciously bitter coffee
which I subdued by the addition of a little evaporated
cream.
FOR DOCTORS ONLY 135
I was glad that I had not spoiled my breakfast by
eating eggs at eight o'clock, for I was very hungry
when we sat down to it, and enjoyed it so much that
I think it really must have been good.
CHAPTER IX
A Siesta and Such
Preparations for a Panama Siesta — Barricading the Door
— Interruption — Waiting for the End — Obliged to Get
up — Opening the Box of Water — A Fatal Tip — An Imi-
tation College Yell — Its Effectiveness — Horseback Riding
— The High-toned Boarding Stable — Effect of Work upon
Men and Animals in the Tropics — The Tramp and the
Rich Man — Shopping — Tickets for the Bull-fight — Cigaret
Smoking and the Habit— The Dusky Maiden— No Fool
like an Old Fool — Biased Opinions — The War-cry — Town
Gossip — A prescription for a Bottle of Beer — After-
dinner Amusements — Ubi Tres Medici — Temperance of
the Doctors — Mosquitoes and Poetry — The Night Watch-
man.
It was about noon when we finished our Spanish
breakfast, and we agreed to take a siesta and meet
again at half-past three. First, however, we stepped
into a provision store in the next building and bought
a case of fifty bottles of mineral water for use in our
rooms. My American ancestors had drunk water
for so many years that I had inherited the habit, and
could not give it up, as many foreigners do, and we
did not wish to be obliged to go to the bar every time
we wanted a drink of water, for the bar-tender in-
variably put something in it.
I then went to my room to try the siesta and learn
136
A SIESTA AND SUCH 137
just what it was like. By the time I had climbed to
the top of the house I was in a profuse perspiration
so that clothes became insufferable and a draft of air
indispensable. Hence, after opening the door about
six inches and putting my trunk against it, I pulled
the bed in front of the window to enable it to catch
the drafts and breezes, and hung the upper bed cover
over the foot to shield me from the sight of any one
who might peep around the edge of the barricaded
door. After having tucked the edges of the life-sav-
ing mosquito bar carefully under the mattress all
around, I lay down with some of my clothes on. But
the drafts and breezes were imperceptible and per-
spiration was active, and I soon had to work one of
the edges of the mosquito bar loose, crawl out of
bed and divest myself of more clothes. By keeping
perfectly quiet I now perspired freely only where I
was in contact with the mattress, which would have
been considered a hard and cool one for any place but
Panama, where it was a hard one only.
I began reading a Spanish novel to make me sleepy,
as I had frequently done before. I read until my eyes
and arms grew tired, when the book dropped and I
began to doze off. Just then I was aroused with a
start by a sudden loud knocking, and upon raising up
and looking over the foot of the bed saw the swarthy
mestizo bell boy's curly head projecting into the room.
He was smiling like a satyr as he triumphantly an-
nounced that the mineral water had come. I did not
return the smile, but again dug my way out under the
edges of the mosquito bar, slipped on an extra gar-
138 TO PANAMA
ment, pulled away the trunk and admitted him. After
depositing the box he lingered as if he expected to
open it for me; but by using considerable patience
and many forcible expressions I finally got him out,
undressed again, crawled under the edge of the bar,
tucked it in laboriously and lay down to dry, and fin-
ish my siesta in peace. But neither sleep nor soothing
thoughts nor alleviating breezes would come. So I
tried to read myself to sleep again, but the book would
not functionate. I wanted to get up and stand behind
the door ready to hit the bell boy's head with a chair
the next time he peeked in ; but that would have made
me drip. Besides it would have done him no good,
for he would never have known what struck him. So
I lay still. . . .
After a long time the cathedral clock struck two
and I felt thankful that the siesta was half over. After a
still longer time I began to think that the middle-aged
clock had run down. But it had not, for it finally struck
half past. After another long interval of weary wait-
ing, I began to grow sleepy again, when the clock
struck three, and my siesta ended just when it was go-
ing to begin. A faint breeze had begun to stir,
and I had forgiven the bell boy and could have
taken a peaceful nap, but had to keep my appointment
with Doctor Echeverria. Encouraged by the faint
breeze, I hoped, by moving about slowly and system-
atizing the work, to be able to slip into my clothes
without saturating them with perspiration.
I became thirsty and wanted the bell boy to bring
a hammer and open the box of mineral water. But
A SIESTA AND SUCH 139
there was no way of calling him, not even a gas pipe
to pound on. So I put on my overcoat, stole across
the hall, through the empty room opposite and found
him lounging on the veranda ready to halloa whenever
the gong sounded. I gave him my message, returned
to my room and waited, pitying the poor Spanish
people for not knowing better than to select for the
siesta the only two hours in the day during which it
is impossible to sleep.
In about fifteen minutes the boy appeared with an
old shoe and broke open the box with it. I felt to-
ward him as the Spanish banqueters felt toward Co-
lumbus when he stood the egg on an end. I could
have done it myself if I had known how it was going
to be done. I now made the mistake of my trip to
the tropics, for I gave the boy a fee, a harmless-look-
ing Colombian twenty-cent piece. I had felt like mur-
dering him for doing his duty an hour before, and
wished to do the right thing now by myself. He
promptly accepted the money but did not go away.
He asked what else he could do for me. Could he not
clean the room, fill the water pitcher, open another
bottle, etc. He was as persistent as an insurance
agent to whom you have rashly given your age. I
said "no" after each question, and after the last one
said as loudly and emphatically as possible that I did
not want anything, not even him. He stood and
looked blankly at me with that powerful silence which
is the safe refuge of empty intellects. He was not
an insurance agent. The insurance agent does not
understand the value of silence. But to use strong
140 TO PANAMA
terms in Spanish does not come natural to a student
of the language, for the books and teachers only teach
mild and proper words, and the Spaniards one meets
and practices upon use only polite phrases. So I
found it difficult to convince the fellow that I was fu-
rious. I could only be furiously polite. Yet to give
a person a piece of your mind is, after all, to give away
a portion of your own without adding anything to
his, or getting anything in return. Hence I gave up
trying to explain anything and shouted:
"No, no! Nada, nada! Vayase, vayase! Aburr-r!"
(No, no! Nothing, nothing! Begone, begone! Adieu!)
Then a ray of intelligence illumined his counte-
nance, and he said in a low, matter-of-fact tone of
voice, "Me voy" (I go), and slowly walked out.
But this was only the beginning of the troubles
brought upon me by the silverpiece. A goldpiece
could not have done worse. Every time I went up-
stairs either the male, or else the female, chamber-
maid would follow me into my room to tidy it or
ask to do some errand. Or, if I was not followed, he
or she was sure to open the door about the time I was
in demi toilette, for they always tried the door before
knocking. In my disgust and haste to get them out
I would mix up my Spanish metaphors and polite
phrases and stutter helplessly, particularly if it was
the female chambermaid with her* mature although
maidenly smile. As there was but one key, I began
leaving it in the door during my absence so that they
could bring as many pitcherfuls of water and clean up
the room as often as it pleased them, and thus earn
A SIESTA AND SUCH 141
their twenty cents without my help. Upon entering
I invariably locked the door and at the first knock
called out, "No, no! Nada, nada! Vayase, vayase!
Aburr-r!" imitating as closely as possible the manner
of students giving their college yell. Finally they
came to understand, and would start away as soon as
I commenced. I had conquered them. But I had
learned that the conqueror's lot is not a happy one. Let
others go through the strenuous process of conquering.
Passive peace is good enough for me.
Finally I became so habituated to answering the
knocking on the door with my imitation college yell
that I gave it one day when Doctor Echeverria
knocked, and thus frightened him away. He asked
me afterward with whom I was having words — he had
never heard one of our college yells. So I told him
the whole story, and asked him the best course to pur-
sue with mestizo boys and musty old maids. He told
me to have faith, hope and charity, but most of all
hope — to order them around a great deal in order
to show that I expected service and was going to pay
for it, but not to fee them until the day of my depar-
ture. We followed out this plan with our table
waiter and obtained good service. As in doing every-
thing else, a man who gives tips should learn how.
When at last my toilet was finished I went down to
the office with a good color and a moist skin. Doctor
Echeverria and Sefior McGill had been awaiting me
for some time, and thought that I must have slept
long and well during my siesta.
Sefior McGill was fond of horses, in accordance
142 TO PANAMA
with the prevalent fashion among Panama bachelors
who, in lieu of taking a wife, were in the habit of
taking a horseback ride every afternoon. And the
ladies smiled upon them, apparently in approval. Af-
ter we had been to the cable office to send the doctor's
cablegram to his wife at San Jose, the senor took us
to the highest-toned boarding stable in town, where
were kept eight so-called fine horses. He admired
them greatly and pointed out one or two good quali-
ties in two or three of them. But I picked out three
or four bad points in five or six of them, and told
him that, as a bachelor and lover of horses, he should
neither accept a horse nor a wife without asking some
one with experience to point out their bad qualities,
since good qualities could be overcome, but bad ones
never. The fine (?) horses were imported, the best
and largest one from Brazil; yet even that one, al-
though of heavy Percheron shape, was rather small
and scrubby, a work horse but not big enough to
work. The tropics may be a good place for wild ani-
mals who take their exercise by night, and domestic
animals who do not take any; but animals and men
who habitually do active hard work, develop poorly
and degenerate rapidly. If a man or an animal, how-
ever, does not and will not work, the tropics are the
place for him. An amount of active work that is nec-
essary to keep a man well and in working order in
Chicago would soon kill a white man in Panama,
while an amount of inactivity that would make a
man sick in Chicago does him good there.
Tramps should go to Panama and by lying fallow
A SIESTA AND SUCH 143
renew the exhausted and dissipated physical stock of
their ancestry. There they can feast on the plentiful
bananas, pineapples, mangoes, papayas and breadfruit,
take siestas under inviting palm trees, and lodge cheap-
ly under wayside wagons, or in dried mudholes, ac-
cording to the season. They need not toil, neither need
they spin, yet not Solomon with all his wives to keep
his house from him ever took the comfort they can
take. Never to be cold or hungry, nor to be re-
proached for improvidence, nor be brought to want
for not working, nor to be dependent upon saloons
and jails to keep from starving and freezing; such is
the paradise awaiting them on the isthmus.
Only the rich man can not take advantage of, the
conditions in Panama. The waiters are not well
enough trained, the first breakfast is too skimpy, ex-
tras are too difficult to procure, furniture is too un-
comfortable, perspiration too wet, etc. The rich man
starves, tires out, gets sick and has to return to the
North, with its steam-heated houses and complex cui-
sine, to save his life and live in comfort — if the rich
ever do live in comfort. Some think they do, but they
don't — although they might easily learn how from
their servants.
We shopped a little, buying Porto Rican straw hats,
duck trousers and other thin clothes, and found the
prices about the same as those in the United States
for similar articles of good quality, but much cheaper
than in Costa Rica. Although the tickets were not
yet on sale, we engaged seats for the bull-fight that
was to take place Sunday, January 1st. I had never
144 TO PANAMA
seen a bull-fight, although I often had wished to. I
did not hanker after the so-called entertainment, but
as a student of the Spanish people and of their litera-
ture I considered it a ceremony of educational and
emotional value. We had intended visiting some of
the Chinese silk and curio stores, but the general cus-
tom of closing at about five o'clock made it necessary
to postpone this part of it. As we were four or five
blocks from home, my companions insisted upon tak-
ing a cab to the hotel. I preferred walking, which
was better for the health, but being in Panama had
to do as the Panamanians did. The five-minute ride,
however, cooled us off and made us feel better, show-
ing that the end justified the means.
During our walk and ride Senor McGill kept light-
ing cigarets and would have kept us doing the same
if we had not refused. Doctor Echeverria did not
smoke and I only smoked cigars. The sefior was,
however, very moderate for a South American, for
he only smoked about a dozen cigarets during the af-
ternoon. One of our delegates, a physician from San
Salvador, said that he smoked about seventy-five a
day, and that many of his acquaintances did likewise.
It serves to keep men occupied, just as embroidering
and knitting serve to keep women occupied. As the
tobacco in the Central and South American cigaret is
very black and much stronger than in those made in
the United States, I should say that seventy-five of
the former would equal about a hundred and fifty of
the latter in its effect upon the nerves. Evolution can
go no farther. Such consummate cigaret fiends are
A SIESTA AND SUCH 145
however not common in the United States. Yet the
habit seems to influence men badly whether they
smoke strong or weak tobacco. The practice of smok-
ing often, seems to grow on them until finally they
want to light a cigaret every time they meet a friend
or have a moment of leisure. They light one every
time they sit down, again when they get up, and every
time they hear news or wish to impart news to others.
One can keep tab on their feelings and impressions
and intentions by watching their cigaret play. The
habit leads them to give way to their impulses and
inclinations without resistance, and they finally get
to smoking automatically, without thinking about it
and without really enjoying it. They smoke with the
same kind of nervous satisfaction that Napoleon
walked the floor when he dictated correspondence,
and with correspondingly direful results. It affects
themselves and their friends, however, instead of their
foes, for it keeps them smelling worse than a groom.
The habitual cigaret smoker habitually smells. There
is only one worse habit, and that is to go about pub-
licly sucking an old pipe. This hurts every one with-
in sight.
Senor McGill left us at the hotel, and the doctor
and I went to our rooms to replace wilted linen. I
had just removed my coat and collar, and was pulling
my outer shirt over my head when the dusky maiden
of many seasons came in to fix my room. I got a
glimpse of her in time, and pulled the garment down
with a jerk and cried, "Get out! Scat! Don't you
know better than to frighten a man to death in this
10
146 TO PANAMA
way?" I hadn't time to compose anything but plain
English.
"Si, senor!" she said, as she started for the water
pitcher.
"You've seen enough. Get out, I say."
She merely smiled in a matter-of-fact way as if to
say, "Don't mention it. I'll excuse it this time."
Tropical women seem to know that men have no mod-
esty.
I was too nervous to speak Spanish, and she was
too stupid to guess what my English meant, so I
pointed sternly at the door. She looked at my out-
stretched arm and, seeing no weapon in it, smiled
again and said, "Si, senor!"
Finally I got the combination and shouted:
"No, no! Nada, nada! Vayase, vayase! Aburr-r!"
The formula was effective, for she stared at me
with an expression of petticoat dignity and pop-eyed
wonder which said plainer than words, "There is no
fool like an old fool," and walked out. She must
have thought that changing garments was a public
ceremony, like snoring and seasickness. It was the
last time I was caught with my door unlocked.
After securing the door, I talked to the looking-
glass and washstand until I was dressed. I wondered
if the terrifying loneliness of the arctic regions was as
hard on the nerves as the terrible sociability of the
tropics. I found myself arguing with poor Weinin-
ger, who committed suicide at the age of twenty-three.
He said that woman was mere matter that could as-
sume any shape. But this one was merely a mass of
A SIESTA AND SUCH 147
petticoat that couldn't assume any shape. Another
man, who has not yet committed suicide, said that
woman's face was the most beautiful thing in the
world — he had not seen them all.
All of the officials and local celebrities excepting
President Amador, Mr. Wallace and Mr. Barrett were
in the habit of stopping at the hotel on their way, or
out of their way, home after business hours, or on
their way from home after dinner, thus rendering
the hotel corridor and barroom quite animated, and,
of course, quite interesting to a stranger; so I went
down-stairs to seek solace and safety in a crowd. Af-
ter listening awhile to General Jeffries, who had
fought in nearly all of the Central American repub-
lics, and who had the right of way in Panama; and
to an American contract agent who was attending to
the building up of Central America and Cuba on
North American lines; as well as to other more dis-
tinctly local celebrities, discuss the conditions and
prospects of the little republic, I was invited to take
a bottle of beer with one of those typical United States
old gentleman whom I had found ordering eggs for
their early breakfast on the first morning after my
arrival and who were making things so lively for the
waiters. It was the quiet one who had allowed his
large, formidable, rheumatic friend to fight the "Bat-
tle of the Eggs" for him. But it was now his turn to
complain. The eggs had done their work, and the
problem was how to get rid of eggs instead of how
to get eggs. He had not lived as Panamanians did,
and was not willing to die as they did when they
148 TO PANAMA
transgressed. I should have been much more willing
to advise him if he had drunk my beer instead of
making me drink it, but I could not offend him by
refusing the most expensive treat next to champagne
and, to my thinking, a better ( ?), pleasanter and less
poisonous one. I really wanted to take imported bot-
tled water, but I feared to- offend him by making him
pay fifty cents for a drink of water, when beer could
be had for the same price. I gave him the prescrip-
tion of my old professor, Dr. N. S. Davis, who lived
to be eighty-five years old and always used it upon
himself when similarly affected, viz., "R. Take neith-
er food nor medicine until your stomach is all right
again." Doctor Davis included all alcoholics in this
prohibition of medicine, but I said nothing to my pa-
tient about that. It would have disgusted him with
me.
Pretty soon Doctor Echeverria and Senor McGill
appeared, and we dutifully proceeded to take an
aperitif preparatoire, for it was half after six and we
would have to face a formidable bill of fare at seven.
In a colder climate active exercise would have been
considered a better appetizer for a hearty meal, but in
hot climates an alcoholic stimulant is considered more
enjoyable and quite efficacious. Senor McGill had
even less the figure and fogosity of a high-liver than
he had of a warrior, but he took something genuine,
and went out to dinner with us and did himself honor,
drinking iced claret in place of water. After dinner
we returned to the hotel corridor and barroom and
spent the evening talking and treating — all three of
A SIESTA AND SUCH 149
us, excepting Doctor Echeverria and myself, smoking
cigarets.
"Ubi ires medici, ibi duo athei."
I learned that on Thursday evenings from eight to
ten o'clock a public concert was given in the open air
at Plaza Santa Ana, and one on Sunday evenings in
the Parque del Catedral in front of our hotel. On
other evenings there were about three things for the
Panamanians to choose between, viz., to stay at home,
undress and keep cool; to go to one of the clubs and
play cards; or to lounge about the hotel and talk and
drink alcoholic liquors or syrupy soft drinks (fres-
coes') at regular intervals. I met Doctor Cook of
Panama; Doctor Calvo, the secretary of the Pana-
manian Medical Congress; Doctor Tomaselli, one of
the busiest of the local practitioners, and other physi-
cians, as well as a few non-professional citizens, and
noticed that these physicians, as well as a few unpro-
fessional citizens, avoided the barroom. They usually
remained in the hotel corridor and did not remain long.
Nearly all of the temperance men, however, drank
soft drinks, and they were real men as far as exter-
nals indicated.
About nine o'clock Doctor Echeverria went out to
call upon some friends, and I went across the street
into the park and cooled off. The mosquitoes soon
began to congregate, however, and I sneaked up to
my bedroom, escaping the argus-eyed bell boy and
bully girl. I locked the door quickly, undressed in
the dark and after carefully tucking in the edges of
the mosquito bar, crawled under it, thinking of Bry-
ant's stanzas addressed to the mosquito.
150 TO PANAMA
Beneath the rushes was thy cradle swung,
And when at length thy gauzy wings grew strong,
Abroad to gentle airs their folds were flung,
Rose in the sky, and bore thee soft along.
The south wind breathed to waft thee on thy way
And danced and shone beneath the billowy bay.
Calm rose afar the city spires, and thence
Came the deep murmur of its throngs of men,
And as its grateful odors met thy sense,
They seemed the perfumes of thy native fen.
Fair lay its crowded streets, and at the sight
Thy tiny song grew shriller with delight.
I lay listening to the cathedral clock strike the hours
and half-hours. Every time the clock struck during
the night, the night watchman blew his whistle to
awaken people and remind them that he was awake.
Chicago policemen wake up their headquarters only.
The promptitude of the whistling made one of our
doctors think that the whistling was done by the clock,
and was to awaken the watchman only.
CHAPTER X
About Town
Early Breakfast— The "Gentleman of the Eggs" Again—
How to Eat the Juice of an Orange — Panama Shops —
Chinese Silks and Curios — Purchases — Trying to Beat
Down a Chinaman's Price — The Market — Chinatown —
Assortment of Smells — Chinese Style — A Large Stock —
The Doctor's Extravagance — Idleness the Cause of In-
judicious Buying — Another Lesson in Siestas — The dolce
far niente of It — Another Interruption — Nada, Nada! —
New Year's Resolutions — The Usual Visit to the Cable
Office — Las Lonely Bovedas — Extension of Sewers to Low
Water Line — The Odor Worse than the Poison — The
Remedy — The Prison — The Barracks — Goats Versus
Cows — Narrow Streets and Ruins — Chicago Again in the
Lead — Unserviceable Sidewalks — Rich Food Eaten in
the Tropics — The Promenade Concert — Costumes and
Customs.
At coffee I found the portly old "Gentleman of the
Eggs" in his place at the head of the table, as confi-
dent and contented as a successful South American
revolutionist. Things were going his way — beefsteak,
fried potatoes, camareros and congestion.
Doctor Echeverria came in and showed me how to
peel and eat an orange. He thrust a sharp-pronged
fork into one end, peeled it with a sharp table knife
the same as one pares an apple and began biting into
it. After finishing it, all of the fibrous portion re-
151
152 TO PANAMA
mained on the fork and the juice only had been eaten.
This is the way a fluid can be eaten. The old gentle-
man looked askance at the performance as if he con-
sidered it a foreign fraud, but did not alarm those
who were not looking at him; and everything went
well.
After coffee we sent a cablegram to the doctor's
wife, and proceeded to hunt up a Chinese store. All
stores in Panama are, in point of size, shops, for al-
though some of them have a frontage of twenty-five
feet, in a few instances of fifty feet, they are shallow,
the great majority being not more than twenty-five
feet deep. Thus the stores as well as the streets are
mere bumping places.
The duties on silk and, I believe, on nearly all goods
are low. Hence, although scarcely anything is manu-
factured or made in Panama, the prices are usually
moderate. But so many things are imported from the
United States that I had to be careful not to buy goods
that had been brought from the United States. In
such cases I would pay the increased prices resulting
from the moderate Panama duties, and then pay the
immoderate American duties upon bringing them
back. The Chinese silk and curio stores had the usual
things that they have in the United States. In addi-
tion to this the Chinese kept provision stores of all
sizes and grades where they sold groceries, liquors,
fruits, dried and canned goods, and other delicacies
demanded by their numerous countrymen and native
customers.
By way of introduction I bought some feather
ABOUT TOWN 153
fans and bronze sea cows. I then called for a
skeleton coat. The Chinaman looked at my arms and
legs and said that he did not keep skeleton clothes,
but had some about my size, and brought out a white
shiny silk sack coat for twelve dollars. As I only
wanted it for a week's wear in Panama and a couple
of days on the Caribbean Sea, the coat would cost me
more than a dollar for each day's wear. Had I been
younger and more enterprising I should have em-
braced the opportunity of wearing an imported coat
that cost a dollar a day while worn, and would have
discarded it at the end of ten days in order not to
spoil its record ; but I allowed the opportunity to pass
and called for something cheaper. The Chinaman
showed me a similar coat for ten dollars and said:
"Vely cheapee."
"More cheapee/' I said.
He showed me one for eight dollars.
"Still more cheapee, much more cheapee."
He then brought out one for three dollars that
looked the same to me, and would catch the Panama
dust and filter the Caribbean showers just as faith-
fully as if I paid twelve dollars for it. I gave him a
five-dollar bill and received seven dollars back. I then
spied a beautiful piece of silk embroidery and drawn-
work about as wide as a door mat and a little longer.
I guessed it to be a bureau cover but called it a door
mat, for short.
"How muchee?" I asked.
"Eight dollah."
"What? Eight dollah for door mat? No go. It
154 TO PANAMA
looks well but it wouldn't last an hour in Chicago. It
is full of holes. I never pay for holes. Deduct for
the holes and I'll buy it."
"No put him out doah. Keep him in house."
"Oh, I see, he is a towel. But when we wash in
Chicago we use muchee water. It would take three
of him for one wiping, and then there would be no
opportunity for friction. Such a towel "
"No towel. Put him on table," interrupted the
Chinaman, with a trace of alteration in the tone of
his voice.
"Oh, a napkin? Why, every time I'd wipe my
mouthee the soupee would come through these con-
founded holes on my hands. You must obliterate
them if you wish to sell him. He's a regular skele-
ton."
"Not for eatee — for pollah table, for buleau — lookee
pletty."
"Oh, a sort of tidy for the bureau. But these holes
spoil him, I say. The dirt would show right through
him. Here, I'll give you six dollah for him. Quickee
— comee — bargain — cashee — hoop lah!" I tried to
carry the bargain by storm.
The Chinaman could not deny that dirt would show
through the drawn-work. He looked perplexed and
human, but his speech had the sound of a talking
machine.
"Sem dollah ninety-fye cent."
"Sew up the holes," I said, "and I'll give it. No-
body'11 ever buy him full of holes. Why he couldn't
hold water, he wouldn't even hold molasses. Here's
your six dollah, last chancee."
ABOUT TOWN 155
"Bully hole! Vela fine hole! Sem dollah ninety-
fye cent. Allee hole flee in bahgain." As he said this
his words became animated, but his face was like yel-
low wax.
"No fleas or flea holes in mine. You'll never sell
him to a Yankee with those flea holes in him. Good-
bye!'1
He eyed me with patient disgust and put away his
finery. As I went out he said, "Bettee fye dollah sell
him to-mollah."
I knew that the piece was worth eight dollars in
Colombian money, but I didn't like to give in, and
thought it quite as well to return another time and
buy it. But when I did return three days later the
Chinaman pretended that the bureau cover was gone,
thinking probably that I wanted to claim the five
dollars that he had offered to bet. He did not seem
anxious to sell me anything. But I had taken a fancy
to the cover and wanted it. I offered him eight dollah
and fye cent, but he said:
"Allee gone."
I offered him nine dollah.
"Allee gone."
I offered him ten dollah.
"Allee gone."
So I also went, cured of my conceit as a shopper
and business man. I had the best of the bargain, how-
ever, for the cover didn't cost me anything. In my
subsequent shopping I soon learned that the amount
a Chinaman would throw off was so insignificant that
it was not worth while to ask it. In fact, it is a good
156 TO PANAMA
thing to offer him five cents more than he asks to
make him jump about and show his goods with more
zeal. As we passed out I noticed that the doctor had
bought several things of considerable value for his
wife.
We then sauntered leisurely down to the street
that skirted the seashore, passing the market on our
way. The market was a large fenced, rectangular
area with a galvanized iron roof. It projected over
the sea wall, giving opportunity for the disposal of
all dirt by merely throwing it out, supposing, of
course, that it were possible to get rid of all of the
dirt in the place. It was much better constructed
and arranged than the market at Colon, and was well
supplied with dirty counters and dirty booths where
dirty Chinamen, dirty negroes and dirty mestizos
sold dirty fruit, dirty fish, dirty vegetables, etc., all
of which should have gone over the sea wall instead
of over the palate.
Arriving at the end of the street where it was cut
off by an inward curve of the shore line, we turned
at right angles to the left into a street about a quar-
ter of a mile long and were, commercially speaking,
in Chinatown. The ground-floor front of many of
the houses were little Chinese stores, and most of the
inhabitants that we saw were Chinese. And before we
had finished our walk along the shore, through the
market and up this street, we were prepared to endorse
the saying that Panama had a separate smell for every
turn of the head. A blind man could soon learn to
find his way around easily and unerringly.
ABOUT TOWN 157
Up near the main street, where our little street end-
ed, we came to a large, clean-looking Chinese silk
and dry-goods store with an imposing entrance. A
private carriage was standing in front of it, although
upon entering we did not find any one who looked as
if he or she had ever possessed or even driven in a
carriage. Indeed, on two other occasions I saw a
carriage, presumably the same one, in the same place,
but never discovered a possible owner shopping there.
Hence I inferred that the carriage belonged to the es-
tablishment, and was kept there to impress strangers
by making them believe that rich customers frequent-
ed the place. The store had two front rooms, a main
room for all sorts of articles, and a smaller one for
silk. We went into the silk room where we found a
beautiful display of a costly embroidered silk in the
show-cases, and in innumerable pasteboard boxes on
shelves reaching almost up to the ceiling.
The proprietor, who waited upon us, was a plump,
handsome, courteous, intelligent and exceedingly dig-
nified Chinaman. When Chinamen grow fat they of-
ten become good looking; those that remain thin re-
main ugly, like the rest of us. He showed us all sorts
of finery, and Doctor Echeverria let himself out.
Whenever the doctor saw silks and embroidery and
a Chinaman he thought of his wife, and whenever he
thought of his wife he thought of silks and embroi-
dery and Chinamen. In Costa Rica the tariff is very
high on silks, and the market is probably not good.
We examined many things and made the Chinaman
send for more goods from his store-rooms. The doc-
158 TO PANAMA
tor wasted no time talking, but bought freely: scarfs,
shawls, fans, waists, kimonas, doilies, table covers,
etc., for his wife, and handkerchiefs, neckties, etc.,
for himself.
But this was not all, for we made other visits.
Finally one day he opened his mouth upon the sub-
ject and said, "I'm buying too much. I must keep
away from these stores."
I thought so too, and wondered how he would find
room enough in his trunks for all of the goods, and
what the Costa Rica custom officers would do to him.
I have since also been curious to know if his wife,
after seeing these things, told him, as my wife told me
when I presented my purchases, that she could have
bought the same at home just as cheaply, and could
have selected things she wanted. My wife would have
perhaps obtained more at home for the money, but I
would not have gotten the romance out of it. I needed
the experience. A little chivalry toward one's wife is
worth more than money.
At home I never enter Chinese shops. Being busy,
and therefore in a normal mental state, I act rationally
and do not buy Chinese silks and jimcracks. But in
Panama I had nothing useful to do, and was there-
fore apt to do things I should not have done. When
the mind is preoccupied with buying stocks one buys
them more or less freely and precipitately; when it is
preoccupied with buying Chinese silks one is apt to
buy more than one's wife needs or wants.
The shrewd insurance agents, book agents, art
venders and irresponsible promoters take advantage
ABOUT TOWN 159
of this fact at home where you can not escape them.
They take up so much of your time and talk so much
about insurance, books, pictures or investments that
they communicate to you their own paid- for enthusi-
asm on the subject. They hammer it into your brain
cells by prolonged and repeated nerve impressions
until the brain cells are temporarily modified to re-
produce the impression involuntarily, so that "insure,
insure," or "buy, buy," is continually running through
your mind. You are hypnotized. The only way to de-
termine whether you want an insurance policy or a
book or a picture or a fortune from the agent or pro-
moter, is to get away from him or her for forty-eight
hours, and sleep over the problem twice. The impres-
sions of the agent's sonorous or perhaps insinuating
voice will then have become weakened, and you will
find that you do not want either an insurance policy, a
book, a picture or a gold mine.
After lunch I went up to my room to take another
private lesson in siestas. The barricading of the door,
the removing of superfluous clothing, the careful tuck-
ing in of the mosquito bar under the mattress all
around, futile efforts to stop thinking and keep from
perspiring, and protracted attempts to read Spanish
novels, made of the siesta a not insignificant part of
the day's work. It was not the dolce far niente, the
Traeumerei, the dreamy dozing so dear to the ima-
gination of degenerates. My character was unfor-
tunately already formed; I had my limitations, and
could not adapt and reconcile myself to the popular
siesta hoax. A tropical siesta is not a sleep; it is a
160 TO PANAMA
broil in which the victim does the turning over and
seasoning himself.
Finally, however, at the end of an hour and a half
by the cathedral clock, twelve hours by the hour-glass
in my brain, I seemed to be well done, and slowly siz-
zled off into a simulated sunstroke, only to be awak-
ened as on the day before by those knockout blows
on my door. I aroused myself and saw the bell boy
peeking in.
"The washing, the washing," he said hastily, and
was evidently anxious to anticipate and avoid the ex-
pected torrent of dreadful Spanish. But I was too
discouraged to compose epithets. Epitaphs were more
in keeping with the situation, and one was due him. So
I crawled out of bed, made a toga out of a towel, re-
moved the barricade from the door and took the
bundle. I then wiped my forehead and looked at him.
He stood like a black Pompeian statue with the white
of its staring eyes fixed upon me. I began, "Nada,
nada!" — and the thing glided out. It was becoming
intelligent at last.
But it was still too hot to keep clothes on, and I
had to crawl into my mosquito cage and make up
my mind to stay there until the three o'clock breeze
made itself felt. As the new year was only two days
off, I passed the time making New Year's resolutions.
I made about a hundred, but could only remember a
dozen or so of them afterward. I resolved:
Never to take a siesta or a dolce far niente in the
Juture, but to be satisfied with a plain nap when I
felt the need of it.
ABOUT TOWN 161
Not to return to Panama until a Yankee hotel had
reconstructed the country.
Not to personally undertake the reformation of the
tropics.
Not to train the servants of aliens.
Not to begin by getting hot when I wanted to keep
cool.
Not to be a conqueror.
Not to do in Rome as the Romans did.
Not to take a Turkish bath and call it a siesta.
Not to drink frescoes when I wanted water.
Not to do the tropics, nor let the tropics do me.
Not to have opinions, but try to understand things.
Not to be eloquent when silence would suffice.
Not to care when it couldn't help.
Not to know everything.
Not to want anything.
Not to make any new resolutions until the old ones
were worn out or broken.
Finally at half past three I arose, shut and locked
the door, drank a bottle of imported lukewarm water,
cooled myself by washing my chest and body with so-
called cold water, and felt more or less refreshed.
After I had been down-stairs a few minutes, Doc-
tor Echeverria and, later, Senor Arango appeared,
and we started for the cable office to send a message
to the doctor's wife and enquire after the one he had
not yet received. If one had come it would have been
sent to the hotel, but he went and enquired morning
and evening, just for the love of it, or of her, I sup-
posed. At any rate, he couldn't help it.
11
i6s TO PANAMA
We then went for a promenade on the Bovedas
along the seashore. The tide, which rises thirteen
feet, was out and the flat rocky bed of the bay lay ex-
posed for more than a hundred yards. Two men of
slow and deliberate intentions were digging a trench
from the sea wall out to the water's edge at low tide
for the benefit of the sewer pipes. The sewers which
emptied just outside of the sea wall were to be ex-
tended out to that point. This improvement would
do away with some of the bad smells that had followed
the daily exposure of the sea bottom by the recession
of the water. The bad smells at low tide did not,
however, seem to cause much sickness, the regular re-
turn of the salt water acting as a disinfectant and
douche. The offense to the olfactories was probably
the worst feature of the emptying of the sewage near
the shore. Individual perfumery would have been
cheaper and perhaps more efficacious, but the men had
not thought of that, and the ladies had never told
them. Whether it was too early in the day for prome-
nading, or whether there was but little promenading
done on Las Bovedas I do not know (probably both),
but the only fashionable people we met were Sefior
McGill and his party, consisting of two ladies and a
gentleman besides himself. A few children and two
men of the poorer class were the only other persons
visible.
We arrived in a few minutes at the end of the lovely
but lonely promenade where it turned upon itself
and led us down to the low ground just inside of the
sea wall. Here the soldiers' barracks, the city jail
OCEAN FRONT AT PANAMA
Tide Out, Showing the Sea Wall and Bottom of the Sea
ABOUT TOWN 163
and a good parade ground of three or four acres were
situated. We saw many prisoners and a few sol-
diers. The prisoners were confined under the vaults
that supported the promenade. Hence the name Las
Bovedas, the vaults. They were closed on the outer
side by the solid sea wall and on the inner side by
iron grating. Light and air entered the cellars thus
formed from one side only, through the iron grating,
leaving the deeper portions so dark that we could not
see into them. The light space near the grating was
teeming with prisoners of both sexes, mostly negroes
and mixed breeds, who seemed to be uncomfortably
crowded in an exceedingly unhealthy place. Just be-
yond the jail was a plain, rectangular brick building,
in which the soldiers were lodged, and beyond this
were some dilapidated frame houses, ragged children,
dirty goats and drowsy vultures.
Doctor Echeverria wished to buy a herd of goats
for his children and take them to San Jose; but al-
though goats were plenty he could only find one good
one. They had subsisted on straw hats and stray
shoes so long that most of them were getting bald and
leathery on their backs and sides. Cows and fodder
are rather scarce in Central American cities and the
facilities for keeping the milk fresh are not good,
hence the desirability of a herd of goats which can be
starved when corn husks are dear, and can be driven
from house to house to be milked as milk is wanted
for use. This provides sterile, undiluted milk, rich
enough for coffee and more digestible and nourish-
ing for children than the best of cows' milk that has
1 64 TO PANAMA
been milked several hours before being used, or that
has been artificially sterilized. I should think that
Central America, and particularly Panama and the
neighborhood of the Canal Zone, would be a profita-
ble place for large goat dairies. The goats could eat
all night on the sabanas, manufacturing morning
milk from the midnight grass and stubble, and walk
the streets of Panama city all day, clearing the town
of rubbish and giving certified milk to all. They .could
take a daily siesta from i to 3 P. M. in the Parque de
la Catedral and in Parque de la Iglesia de Santa Ana,
giving the town rubbish a chance to form fresh milk
for afternoon delivery. It would be a blessing to our
children in the United States if milch-goats could re-
place milch-cows, which can not safely be starved and
neglected, and it would aid materially in clearing our
homes and streets of tuberculosis and waste paper
— the two white plagues.
In returning we passed through quaint and narrow
streets with their small and old-fashioned houses,
and here and there a ruin. Some of the old church
ruins are very picturesque and very ruinous, although
none of them so ponderous, pretentious and danger-
ous as was our old Cook County court building at Chi-
cago, the world's most magnificent specimen of popular
and political ruin. "Si caput videas, ferias," was its
motto, and for a long time it threatened to crush the
head of the solitary passerby who did not keep his dis-
tance, or to lie down suddenly on the crowd that ven-
tured too near. The citizens had to be protected against
it. Experts on architectural degeneracy reported that
ABOUT TOWN 165
its angle of velocity was accelerated, its angle of repose
faulty, and that its lateral parts showed great fatigue.
So complete and perfect a ruin was never before ma-
tured at so rapid a rate. It made a new record and
set a new pace for municipal dissolution, for without
the aid of quakes, tornadoes or the help of time, it
crumbled so rapidly and steadily that it could not
be kept up long enough to get into guide books and
attract tourists. Thus Chicago leads in ruin as well as
in rush. In its place we have the new county building,
which is a ruin of architectural art — a icolumnat-
ed parallelepiped. Its two-story basement is an
example of bewindowed weakness. Its high and
heavy columns have but little support and sup-
port but little; they are too stuck up, too de-
sirous of being looked up to. But Chicago is not
yet a great architect; the University of Chicago is a
better one. Chicago's specialty lies in a rampant repe-
tition of rectangular windows without any walls, its
variety in a massive superfluity of meaningless stone
carved and crusted with architectural trumpery; its
exception in an occasional magnificent success.
The Panama sidewalks were too narrow for the
enjoyment of a walk. In order to walk side by side,
two of us had to walk on the cobblestones, and as the
third one was too polite to monopolize the whole side-
walk, we all walked on the cobblestones, and thus took
up the whole street. But as we never met a vehicle
in these parts it did not matter except to our feet. We
might have walked single file on the sidewalk, but as
I was the only one not too polite to walk ahead, and
1 66 TO PANAMA
both of the others were too polite to take the second
place, the cobblestones were the only alternative. An
advantage, however, of the use of the street was that
we did not have to step off the sidewalk into the de-
pression intended for a ditch every time we passed
anyone. This passing of people on the twenty-five
inch sidewalks in Panama was almost as difficult as
passing people in Chicago on our twenty-five foot
sidewalks.
When we reached the hotel it was time for an appe-
tizer, which we dutifully drank in preparation for a
tcmr-de-force dinner. I formerly thought that in
the tropics men lived mostly on fruits, rice, light vege-
tables and, if they worked hard, an occasional egg,
taking but little meat or greasy, mixed dishes. But
my experiences in Cuba, on the Italian ship and in
Panama have taught me that the people eat as heartily,
or more so, of greasy food as in northern portions of
the United States, where we subsist too much upon
our home-made cereals that overfill and underfeed us.
As it was Thursday evening there was to be a con-
cert in the Plaza de la Iglesia de Santa Ana at eight
o'clock, and my companions dined with some friends
in town preparatory to attending it with them. So I
had to go through the paces of dinner alone — and
succeeded. I then sat around the hotel corridor until
eight o'clock when the air had become cooler, but not
cool, and my stomach lighter, but not light, and
strolled leisurely to the Plaza de la Iglesia de Santa
Ana, about half a mile away. The musicians were
playing in one corner of the square and the people
ABOUT TOWN 167
promenading in the park which, as in Plaza Central,
occupied the entire square except the peripheral space
taken up by the streets. The .men were, as a rule,
dressed in evening or afternoon dress, as if for pro-
tection against cold, while the ladies were draped in all
sorts of flimsiness appropriate to the weather — white,
gauzy, fleecy, fluffy and pretty. Their clothes were
as appropriate as those of the men were inappropriate,
which is quite the reverse of the methods of dress in
the North, where the men dress for comfort, and the
ladies for the men. Around and around the outer
edge of the park they walked, some in one direction,
some in the opposite, passing and repassing each other,
laughing and talking and apparently unconscious of
the increasing monotony of it all. But a large pro-
portion of the promenaders were young, and to youth
nothing is monotonous but inactivity.
The main street passed by the plaza constituting
the front side; the church occupied the opposite side,
forming a fine background with the dense, electrically
lighted foliage in the middle, and the illuminated,
brilliant throng moving around the edges. Whenever
the music started, the crowd became more animated
and the whole scene presented something romantic or
fairylike to the spectator. The music was of a loud
Spanish character, very appropriate in the open air,
and the pieces, which varied from popular to classic,
were well played.
After becoming somewhat weary from carrying my
course dinner around, I stepped into the shadows of
the trees and took a seat on a bench to listen with
1 68 TO PANAMA
comfort to the music, and watch the young people
chatter and enjoy each other as only the young can.
I resolved that if providence or a vigorous digestion
should ever give me back my youth I would make
myself enjoy trifles also. But some men never grow
young, and trifles never become important to them.
I concluded that the Panama Physicians must also
have overfilled stomachs and an apathy for trifles,
for none of them were there promenading and lemon-
ading.
CHAPTER XI
Town Topics
Waiting for the Bull-fight — Daily Newspapers — Death from
Yellow Fever — Fate of Mr. Dingler's Family — Doctor
Echeverrfa Receives the Cablegram at Last — Walks to
the Seashore — The National Lottery — The Cathedral —
A Titled Doctor of the Past — Ruins — A Ruin within a
Ruin — Business Hours — Baths and Economy of Water —
Proposed Improvements.
The next two days, Friday and Saturday, were
days of waiting for the Sunday bull-fight. Panama
is a small city of 20,000 inhabitants and there was
nothing doing, as the saying is, excepting the walk
to the cable office morning and evening with Doctor
Echeverria in quest of the cablegram from San Jose
that had not arrived. For an ignorant person like
myself, however, who had gone there knowing noth-
ing about the ways of the people in the tropics, and
had only learned a couple of days before to go in out
of the sun, there was interest and instruction in every-
thing.
I spent a part of the time sitting about the barber
shop, the hotel corridor and the barroom studying
local customs, and reading the daily Estrella (Star
and Herald) and El Diario (The Daily). The news-
papers were printed in both English and Spanish and
169
1 70 TO PANAMA
contained short but very good extracts from the lat-
est authenticated world news. One did not have to
read twelve illustrated and illuminated pages to find
two doubtful facts that would be contradicted the
next day. Much of the talk was about the death,
which had just been announced, of the wife of Chief
Engineer Wallace's secretary of yellow fever. The
young secretary had gone North to marry her, and
had brought her to Panama to become a victim within
a few weeks. Her death cast a gloom over the com-
munity and was certainly not an encouraging and
comforting experience for Mr. and Mrs. Wallace.
It reminded us of the fate of Mr. Dingier, one of the
chief engineers of the Panama Canal under the
French regime, who brought his wife and two sons
to Panama and lost all three of yellow fever in one
month. His troubles produced melancholia and he
had to give up his work.
These were isolated instances of such misfortunes
in high stations of life, and were indicative of many
equally distressing but generally unknown or quickly
forgotten ones in more humble stations. This does
not apply to the Jamaica negroes, however, who think
that they are suffering from too much hygiene. Instead
of yellow fever they are contracting catarrh and pneu-
monia in their new, well-ventilated sleeping quarters.
Health, wealth and prosperity, like everything else,
should be enjoyed in moderation.
On Friday evening Doctor Echeverria received the
longed-for cablegram from his wife, and again took
interest in ordinary mundane trivialities. I missed
TOWN TOPICS 171
our walks to the cable office, which was situated at
the upper end of the city where it extended out upon
a projecting piece of land. I enjoyed going there to
gaze at the picturesque shores, the green islands and
the dark blue sky and sea, and feel romantic. These
walks also took care of considerable superfluous time
that would have been spent sitting about the hotel,
and they kept us in touch with the common people and
cobble pavements. As it was the end of the week,
numerous old, half-breed Indian women, and an oc-
casional Chinaman, wandered about the streets ped-
dling tickets for the Panama National Lottery, which
had a drawing every Sunday. The tickets were divid-
ed into halves and quarters to represent the fraction
of the prize one paid for, but did not draw. Thus one
could gamble away a few cents or a few dollars week-
ly, according to one's pocket and one's patriotism.
The lottery is a devilishly good thing for a country
of impoverished people because it lightens taxation.
To those who believe in gambling it represents the
best and most desirable part of taxation since it takes
only the money of those who pay voluntarily and
cheerfully. It also collects quite a sum from visiting
strangers, and did from us. I bought a large fraction
of a ticket, as did most of the other strangers, and
we all came near winning something.
In our peregrinations about town, the doctor and I
went through the cathedral, but saw nothing cheerful
or pretty, although the altar and a representation of
the nativity near it were bright with gilt and gaudy
coloring. The walls everywhere abounded in mor-
172 TO PANAMA
tuary tablets, very cheerful and comforting things to
the sick and the dead, but very uncomfortable re-
minders to those of us who have the Greek enjoyment
of living untainted with a fondness for the contempla-
tion of dissolution. The church contains a tablet in-
scribed to a physician, Dr. Joaquin Morro, which
shows him to have been titled, according to the proper
forms of law, for public services. This tablet, to-
gether with the fact that the present president is a
physician, shows that the doctors are better appreciat-
ed in Panama than with us. It speaks well for the
Panama doctors, or perhaps worse for those of some
other countries.
The exteriors of the churches were much more in-
teresting to me, for they were picturesquely old, typi-
cally Spanish in style, and most of them located among
surroundings that were decidedly medieval and sug-
gestive of strange customs and superstitious beliefs.
As a rule, the ruins were roofless, imperfect shells of
past glory and gloom, with perhaps a corner or small
space or two boarded up for use as a storehouse or
humble dwelling place. As we passed the ruins of
the old Franciscan Church (a new, smaller one has
been erected near by) , I saw coming out from a board-
ed space in the walls an exact counterfeit of the witch
of Endor, as we see her in the tragedy "Macbeth,"
the final evolution of that species of old women that
nourish themselves and their house-plants with tea and
coffee. She was a sort of ambulating mummy; her
face and head mere skull bones with yellow parch-
ment drawn over them, and her body a concatenation
TOWN TOPICS 173
of long bones held in line by some rags loosely drawn
around them. As she came shuffling out from between
the detached, fragmentary pillars she seemed appro-
priately housed, a ruin within a ruin. I wondered
how much rent she ought to have been paid to live
there among the lizards. She added life to the dead
pile, and undoubtedly added romance and interest by
telling fortunes and frightening children.
Across from these human and divine rooms were
little dingy shops that looked like small square ma-
sonry cells, relics of the days of the old church. Large
double doors constituted almost their entire front, and
were kept open for light and air. On account of their
smallness, the almost complete emptiness of visible
merchandise in most of them, the absence of cus-
tomers, and the miserable appearance of the inmates,
I asked the doctor if they were not disreputable
places. He assured me that they were not, but that as
it was already nine o'clock, the business of the day had
been about all transacted. The owners dealt mostly in
perishable provisions which were sold early in the
morning, and there was but little left for them to do
but lounge about until the next morning. Thus poverty
and leisure and content often go together in the trop-
ical zone, just as riches and leisure and discontent
so often do in the temperate and intemperate zones.
I noticed that most officials and business agents in
Panama had office or business hours in the forenoon
and afternoon, which were often marked on the doors
or windows. This enabled them to enjoy their siestas
and cigarets between business hours without being
174 TO PANAMA
disturbed, and also made it practicable for them to
finish their work early in the day. The compara-
tively small amount of work done by business men in
the afternoon would lead one to suppose that but little
was done, yet the best work is done in the early
morning, at a time when Northern customers are not
astir. In the tropics the early birds catch the worms.
In the North the proverb speaks of only one early
bird.
I had given up hunting after baths. I could not
hear of any tub baths, and had been frightened out
of the notion of taking shower baths by a visiting
Central American doctor who was waiting to attend
the Medical Congress. He told me that next to his
seventy-five cigarets a day he enjoyed his daily cold
shower bath at the house of a relative who was a
druggist. The water that was used in the drug store
to wash bottles and things with was run into a reser-
voir under the floor and used for shower baths in the
basement. As the Panama wells were drying up and
plain drinking water was bringing a price, it occurred
to me that to make shower baths pay, it might be nec-
essary in bathing establishments, where the dishwater
and waste water would, of course, be insufficient to
supply shower baths for all of the customers, to col-
lect also the waste water from the baths, pump or
carry it up into the tank and use it over again. When
the water became soapy enough from the multitude
of baths, to look dirty, it could be allowed to flow
away and a new series of baths be started on the same
economical plan. Having a dread of beri-beri, dengue,
TOWN TOPICS 175
leprosy, elephantiasis, tropical ulcers, and other prev-
alent ailments of more or less contagious nature which
had their habitat in Panama, I did not allow myself to
deviate from my previously formed opinion that cold
private sponge baths were not only more cleansing
than the public shower baths, but were more availa-
ble, reliable, convenient, comfortable and manageable.
After wandering about considerably among the
streets and studying the business facilities, I came to
the conclusion that Plaza Central was a good place
for a residence district, but that, being at the wrong
end of the town from the railroad station, it would
soon be an out-of-the-way place for the agencies and
business houses at present located in or near it. When
the volume of business would become greater, the
main thoroughfare would have to be made wider, or
the business centered nearer to the station or trans-
ferred to the mouth of the canal, for nothing ever stays
but dirt and nothing ever lasts but time.
Chief Engineer Wallace had, I believe, spoken of
a plan, which carried to its extreme, would mean tear-
ing down entire blocks of houses for long distances
and enlarging the city area by building a sea wall out
at the edge of the water at low tide, and filling in with
the earth excavated from the canal. But Mr. Wallace
was too modern and reconstructive. I suppose that
a gradual change of the business center will be the
most probable solution of the economic problem, leav-
ing the old city as a residence district, for which it
would be well located. A Chicago real estate dealer
would make a beautiful suburb of it.
CHAPTER XII
The Past and the Present Panama
A Visit Planned and Given Up — Difficulties — Buccaneer
Henry Morgan and President Don Juan Perez de Guzman
— Story of Morgan's Expedition against Panama — Pray-
ers Versus Prowess — Starvation — Waiting Ambuscaders
— Leather Soup — The Miraculous Feeding — Breakfast
Food for Those Who Could not Walk — Making a New
Road — Repulse of Don Juan's Cavalry — Repulse of the
Cattle — Flanking Movement — Victory — Fire — Booty —
The Filibusters Filibustered by Morgan — Great Britain
and Captain Dampier — Chances for the Poet, Tourist,
Artist, Antiquarian and Lover — Something New — Pana-
ma has Changed Hands — But for Uncle Sam There'd
be Something Doing in Panama.
Doctor Echeverria and Sefior Arango had planned
a trip to the old city of Panama, the old-gold city,
founded in 1518 by Don Pedro d'Avila, sacked in 1673
by Sir Henry Morgan, the buccaneer, and rebuilt on
its present semi-peninsular site, where it is inaccessible
to buccaneers and inconvenient for business. , But it
was a whole day's trip and there was no hotel to serve
us with a dejeune a-la-fourchette and a siesta. Besides,
we would have to find a guide to keep us from fall-
ing into cellars and holes overgrown and concealed
by such profusion of vegetation as only the tropics
can produce in two hundred years. The doctor, rather
176
THE PAST AND PRESENT PANAMA 177
than trust to a guide, thought it better to trust in God
only and stay away, for it was a God-forsaken place.
Two hundred years ago the citizens made their
Creator ashamed of them by succumbing to a band of
exhausted and half-starved buccaneers. Sir Henry
Morgan and his men nearly perished of hunger in
trying to cross the isthmus while Don Juan Perez de
Guzman, president of Panama, was praying and eat-
ing, and keeping tab on Morgan's progress and his
own prayers, instead of pleasing God by killing pi-
rates. God is not always pleased with mere praying.
He favors doing, and sometimes fighting, as the fol-
lowing narrative would seem to indicate.
Montebello, the Colon of olden times, was situated
near the mouth of the Chagres River. Sir Henry
Morgan captured and sacked the town and sent word
to Don Juan Perez de Guzman that he would call upon
him soon in Panama. He was desirous of seeing the
city where gold-dust blew about and blinded people,
where the cathedral was crusted over with shells of
pearl and filled with ornaments of silver, and the trees
were hung and festooned with jewels to keep them off
the grass. He wanted his share. The world owed him
a living, etc.
He made good his promise the next year (1670),
thoroughly prepared for the work. He first captured
Fort San Lorenzo that guarded or should have guard-
ed the entrance of the river — and Don Juan P. de G.,
began to watch and pray. Don Juan considered him-
self a better man than the pirate, and thought that
the Lord was with him. But he did wrong to think.
12
178 TO PANAMA
Meanwhile, Captain Morgan, with 1,200 men and
provisions for one day, started merrily up the Chagres
River. Food was too bulky to carry, and about all he
had would be needed by those he left in charge of
San Lorenzo. Besides, he did not go to eat; he went
to fight. He took, however, five large scows laden
with artillery and ammunition to offset the thinking
and praying of Don Juan. God helps them who help
themselves, and Morgan was prepared to help himself.
Ambuscading parties showed themselves in the dis-
tance occasionally, but they were to do the watching
part of Don Juan's program and always retired be-
fore Morgan got near enough to shoot and eat any
of them. Instead of fighting and letting him capture
their food, they retired and ate the food themselves,
saying: "He who eats and runs away will live to
run another day."
Poor Morgan ! The food lasted one happy day. On
the second day the 1,200 went hungry. On the third
day they found the river obstructed by fallen trees.
So a portion of the buccaneers carried the canoes over
the obstacles while the rest cut their way through the
dense vegetation beside the river. All of the artillery
and ammunition that could not be thus transported
had to be left. But Morgan kept right on to the sur-
prise of the well-fed watchers.
On the fourth day the filibusters found some dried
hides at Torna Caballos, cut them into strips, made a
stew and filled themselves. Such a meal ought to have
staid by their stomachs for a week. At noon of the
fifth day they found two bags of meal in the deserted
RUINED TOWER OF OLD PANAMA
1 78 TO PANAMA
Meanwhile, Captain Morgan, with 1,200 men and
provisions for one day, started merrily up the Chagres
River. Food was too bulky to carry, and about all he
had would be needed by those he left in charge of
San Lorenzo. Besides, he did not go to eat ; he went
to fight. He took, however, five large scows laden
with artillery and ammunition to offset the thinking
and praying of Don Juan. God helps them who help
themselves, and Morgan was prepared to help himself.
Ambuscading parties showed themselves in the dis-
tance occasionally, but they were to do the watching
part of Don Juan's program and always retired be-
fore Morgan got near enough to shoot and eat any
of them. Instead of fighting and letting him capture
their food, they retired and ate the food themselves,
saying: "He who eats and runs away will live to
run another day."
Poor Morgan ! The food lasted one happy day. On
the second day the 1,200 went hungry. On the third
day they found the river obstructed by fallen trees.
So a portion of the buccaneers carried the canoes over
the obstacles while the rest cut their way through the
dense vegetation beside the river. All of the artillery
and ammunition that could not be thus transported
had to be left. But Morgan kept right on to the sur-
prise of the well-fed watchers.
On the fourth day the filibusters found some dried
hides at Torna Caballos, cut them into strips, made a
stew and filled themselves. Such a meal ought to have
staid by their stomachs for a week. At noon of the
fifth day they found two bags of meal in the deserted
RUINED TOWER OF OLD PANAMA
THE PAST AND PRESENT PANAMA 179
village of Barbacoas, and accomplished the miracle
of feeding 1,200 men with two bags of meal.
Some of the men were by this time so weak that
they had to be carried into the boats, while many of
those who could walk wanted to turn back. Yet they
kept on, concluding that they might as well starve
going forward as going backward.
On the sixth day they found a plantation with a
barn full of maize, for the ambuscaders had expected
them to starve or turn back before reaching this plan-
tation, and had not destroyed the maize. Nor did
they defend it. Their business was to watch, and they
could not watch and fight at the same time. The 1,200
thus had their fill of breakfast food, and some to
spare, and thus were revived and full of fight. They car-
ried breakfast food to those in the canoes, who were
too weak to walk, but not to eat.
On the seventh day they crossed the river and
reached Cruces, the head of navigation of the Chagres
River, and beheld the city in flames. Here they found
some wine, one sack of bread and some dogs and cats,
which they ate and drank. Then they were taken
sick; and Morgan laid it to the wine, which was a
happy thought.
On the eighth day they repulsed an Indian am-
buscade near by, and lost ten men. Before they left,
they were caught in a rainstorm, which was more seri-
ous. As they had no houses for shelter, they put the
ammunition in holes and cellars of the destroyed houses
to keep it dry while they themselves passed the night
taking a shower bath.
i8o TO PANAMA
On the ninth day they pushed on and reached El
Cerro de los Filibusteros, and took their first look at
the Pacific Ocean. Here they found droves of horses,
mules, oxen, etc., and ate them. Spanish cavalry
appeared often, but upon seeing the pirates, crossed
themselves and withdrew, not wishing to be fired upon
or touched by such a horde of unholy tramps. Where
was Don Juan P. de G., P. of P., N. G.? At prayers
where good men love to be. He thought he had the
faith that confoundeth the enemy, forgetting that
there is no faith without deeds. In the meantime
Morgan's men took a good sleep and recuperated.
On the tenth day Morgan abandoned the regular road
which the watchers and waiters had prepared to de-
fend with cannon, and made a new road and appeared
on a hill that was separated from the city by a plain.
Here the Panamanians assembled 400 horse, 2,400
foot soldiers and 2,000 head of cattle, males and fe-
males, to resist the buccaneers.
The cavalry ran out at Morgan, floundered about
on the boggy plain and retired. The cattle then were
shoved at him, but they were no braver than the cav-
alry and were stampeded back into the Panamanian
lines, causing great slaughter. The main body was
then flanked by Morgan's left wing and promptly
routed. Time, two hours. Casualties, 600 Panaman-
ians left dead on the field, and many pirates sent to
Satan.
Don Juan N. G. then had the town set on fire, and
it slowly burned down. Indeed, Don Juan played
the Muscovite game from beginning to end. But
Morgan was only fifty miles from his base, with which
THE PAST AND PRESENT PANAMA 181
he had already established communication, and was
not now in danger of starving or freezing. In fact,
it is thought by some authorities that Morgan started
the fire. Anyway the fire burned. Morgan looked
down from the hill and said, "Let her burn." Don
Juan looked up from the flames and said, "Let us
pray."
Then Morgan rode down and made his promised
call. He and his fiendish followers staid in what was
left of Panama for four months, plundering the sur-
rounding country and ravishing the women. He held
as many prominent persons as he could for ransom,
and also tortured many to make them divulge the hid-
ing places of valuables. He took what vessels he
found in the port and scoured the South Sea for many
miles. He captured a few stray ships, but the galleon
upon which the greatest valuables had been placed
escaped him. He then returned to Fort San Lorenzo
with his booty and gave each of the surviving pirates
$400, pretending to divide equally with them. The
pirates accused him of keeping the greater part of the
treasures and thought themselves poorly paid for the
work they had done and the risks they had run. Those
who were sent to Satan were the only ones whose re-
wards were in keeping with the character of their
work.
Having failed to get a ransom for the castle of
Chagres, he demolished some of its walls and set
sail secretly for Jamaica, leaving the majority of his
men behind, and almost as poor as before the expe-
dition. God did not help Don Juan, but he hit the
pirates hard. Few men would be willing to do so
1 82 TO PANAMA
much dangerous work for so little pay. There cer-
tainly were and are many honest occupations avail-
able, even for the most ignorant men, that pay better
in the end than trying to obtain by sword cuts or
short cuts, what belongs to others. But everything
has to be tried and exploited in this immature world,
and Henry Morgan did pioneer work. As a reward
for this, Henry was made a Sir and appointed Lieu-
tenant-Governor of Jamaica, and the island has ever
since been a victim of the four elements. These were
golden days for buccaneers, for they were not only
tolerated at Jamaica but were licensed by Great Brit-
ain to rob and kill Spanish men and women, and to
spend the money and sell the jewels at British ports.
A paragraph from John Evelyn's diary tells the
story :
"1698, 6 Aug.— I dined with Mr. Pepys, where was
Capt. Dampier, who had been a famous Buccaneer,
had brought hither the painted Prince Job, and print-
ed a relation of his very strange adventure, and his
observations. He was now going abroad again by the
King's encouragement, who furnished a ship of 290
tons. He seemed a more modest man than one would
imagine by the relation of the crew he has assorted
with."
Surely the tourist, the poet, the artist, the anti-
quarian, and lover of the romantic past, need not go
to Europe or Asia to find ruin and romance, dirt and
dreaminess, the splendor of nature and the destruct-
iveness of man, to find history, hallucination, inspira-
tion and perspiration.
Let him visit the solitary ruined tower at the site
THE PAST AND PRESENT PANAMA 183
of the old city of Panama and tumble into old vaults
and ditches ; let him study the church ruins in the pres-
ent city, and buy a few; let him live in the dingy old
Spanish houses and go about among the parti-colored
inhabitants, instead of traveling in Europe among his
own countrymen. Let him study the history, legends,
superstitions, customs and language of the people
and be satisfied. If not let him go to Yucatan and
study the architecture and religion of the Aztecs,
which are not modeled after guide books, and let him
wander and dream and write and paint and see some-
thing new under the sun, that really is under the sun.
Europe and Asia are an old story.
Panama has changed hands since the buccaneer
period when the buccaneers did all of the fighting.
Panamanians now have less money, fewer prayers
and more fights. They have not a praying Don Juan
for president — Don Juans should not pray. Their
chief fault is that they believe in frequent changes of
administration. But they have the courage of their
convictions, and the army has always been ready to
act upon them, pro or con.
President Amador is a philosopher and believes
that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,
that the greatest preventive of fighting is to do away
with the fighters. Hence the large standing army of
the republic has been disbanded and their duties given
over to the military policemen. Since then there has
been a revolutionary stagnation, a slump in the revolu-
tionary market, for which Uncle Sam is said to be re-
sponsible. But for Uncle Sam there would have been
something doing in Panama before this.
CHAPTER XIII
New Year's Day and the Sabanas
Cathedral Bells— The Bawl after the Ball— Ringing in the
New Year — Unique Chimes — The Musical Score — A
Drive to the Sabanas — The Suburban Highway — Natives
— Open Prairie — Sefior Arango's Summer Residence —
Great Variety of Flowers, Fruits and Foliage — Good
Cattle Country — Fire-crackers — The Siesta Hour — A
Quiet Funeral—Ho! for the Bull-fight.
New Year's eve I was awakened at midnight by the
ringing of the cathedral bells, which, being directly
across the plaza and at about the same altitude as my
open window, had a good chance at me. After a long
time the noisy tolling ceased and I again dropped off
to sleep. But I was hardly asleep when I was awak-
ened by singing, that universal type of popular song
that has its source in the saloon where good cheer is
manufactured for holidays ; where holidays are howling
days, and pay days are heydays. It was the bawl after
the ball, and commanded attention. As New Year's day
is a sort of Panama Fourth of July, both as to tempera-
ment and temperature, the night watchmen considerate-
ly allowed the singing to go on, although they probably
kept the amateur musicians moving, and thus distribut-
ed the noise impartially over the different parts of the
town. At any rate, the noise died away in the distance
184
NEW YEAR'S DAY AND THE SAB AN AS 185
long enough for me to go asleep, when it came back
and commanded attention again.
At six-thirty in the morning when I was in the
depths of my final heavy tenacious sleep, we had an-
other musical entertainment, an official one this time.
At the break of each New Year's day boys were hired
to pound the bells in the cathedral towers, each boy
having two or three bells to strike promiscuously and
loudly, according to his strength and inclination. The
rhythm as nearly as can be reproduced was as follows :
Ting-aling, ting-tong, ting-ting, ating-tong, go-it-
boys-aping-pong, right-along, sing-song, ring-wrong,
hong-kong, gong-gong!
This was kept up right-along until the boys who
did the hitting must have been tired and lame-shoul-
dered, when peace again reigned in the air. The per-
formance was a relic of old Panama, a musical ruin.
Tooting horns and blowing whistles would have been
more cheerful and practical.
As the lottery prizes were not to be drawn until
noon, nor the bull-fight to be fought until four o'clock,
I was very glad to take a drive with Doctor Echeve-
rria and Senor Arango to the latter's country resi-
dence on the "sabanas" or "prairies." But for the
almost continuous succession of courtesies shown me
by the doctor and his friends, time would have hung
heavily on my hands and I should have seen and un-
derstood much less of the real life of the people. My
acquaintances would have been mainly negro cabmen
and American travelers, and my knowledge that of the
near-sighted tourist who travels hundreds of miles in
1 86 TO PANAMA
order to get pointers on his guide book and commit
a few well-known facts to memory, and recite them
incorrectly.
We drove through the town and out on the high-
way, quite a long stretch of which had been paved
by Sefior Arango himself. The road-bed was good,
but like everything else in a country that had been
having revolutions every two years, with access to the
treasury, the road was sadly out of repair and must
have been very bad during the muddy season. The
horse didn't go fast enough to make the ruts and
ridges objectionable, however, and the dust and heat
were the only things to interfere with the enjoyment
of our drive. Arrangements were being made to re-
pave the highway, which was the only pleasure drive
about Panama. This and the repaving of the Panama
streets are undoubtedly doing something toward mak-
ing life livable there.
The highway and surrounding landscape were un-
attractive for a short distance after passing the rail-
way station. But a little farther on, the road was lined
with huts in front of which native laborers who were
spending New Year's day at home were gathered with
their families ; and it was interesting to study
the crowd of mixed races of all shades from the
white Spanish to the black negro, in which the Indian
and negro blood seemed to play a predominant part.
I was reminded of Midway Plaisance at the Chicago
World's Fair and of the St. Louis Pike, minus the
hallooing and calling. The low brows, narrow fore-
heads, coarse features and dark skin gave them a sort
NEW YEAR'S DAY AND THE SAB AN AS 187
of villainous appearance at first sight, but I noticed,
upon looking at them closely, that they had a serious
rather than sinister expression upon their faces. I also
happened to remember that I had not been accosted
by a beggar, either in Colon or Panama. Whether
this is due to the fact that all men find work; or to
the scarcity of tourists to teach them to beg; or to
the small number and want of affluence of the mem-
bers of the better classes, rendering the profession of
begging unprofitable; or whether my observation was
not accurate, I do not know. I suspect that what lit-
tle it costs the poor to live, is easily earned, but not
so easily begged. However, when the canal is fin-
ished beggars will undoubtedly appear, among other
innovations.
After we had traversed about a mile of this subur-
ban highway, the road led through a pleasant stretch
of mildly rolling prairie-land with scattered woody
areas. Occasionally we passed a farm-house without
much farm and, here and there, a few grazing cattle.
After about an hour of slow driving we came to two
or three country residences and soon arrived at Serior
Arango's.
It was an enclosure of five or six acres planted
quite thickly with a great variety of trees, shrubbery
and flowers; there seemed to be a dozen different
kinds of fruit and flowering trees, many of them not
indigenous to Panama. Flowers unfamiliar to me
grew in great profusion upon bushes and small plants,
and the ground was strewn with limes, mangoes, and
other fruits whose names I knew not. Hence, a short
1 88 TO PANAMA
walk was a walk of great interest, and was especially
pleasant because of the dense shade afforded by the
thick foliage. The house was a story and a half high.
One side of the lower floor was entirely made up of
wide doors, allowing it to open up almost as com-
pletely as if it had no wall on that side, and the
porches were wide and covered by the projecting
roof. The windows and large door spaces could be
closed with lattice-work that kept out the sun, but
not the air. The furniture was rustic but plentiful.
A dark-skinned native lived apparently in one of the
outhouses, but could not have had much to do except
to watch the fruit grow, and eat it, for the place was
evidently quite capable of taking the care of itself.
The foliage was too thick for a shaven lawn to be
cultivated under it, and there was no spring and au-
tumn "taking up" and planting of delicate bulbs, or
covering of roots in winter, etc. Once planted things
required almost no care; flowers and fruits matured
and fell and began to grow again. After a pleasant
hour spent in looking about, gathering nosegays,
tasting fruits and cooling off in the rustic shade, we
started back.
Farther away from the town in the same direction
Senor Arango's father had a larger summer resi-
dence, and still farther up the isthmus had a farm of
several thousand acres with large droves of cattle.
The sabanas are well adapted to cattle-raising and good
beef is plentiful on the hoof. But the transportation fa-
cilities are poor, for the country has neither highways
nor railways.
NEW YEAR'S DAY AND THE SAB AN AS 189
As we rode back we found the boys in the city set-
ting off fire-crackers and enjoying themselves as well
as they could in a city with scarcely any street-space
or yard-area. Otherwise the only activity noticea-
ble was the passing of lottery ticket venders offering
their goods for the drawing at noon. The hotel was
more quiet than usual on New Year's day, for the
father of the proprietors (two brothers) had died the
day before and was to be buried in the afternoon. The
barroom was closed and but few visitors were about
except those who came to visit the chamber of death.
After eleven o'clock breakfast we went to our
rooms to take a short siesta, agreeing to meet again
at half past three and go to the bull-fight. I lay down
as on the previous day and began thinking of the
mestizo bell boy. He did not appear, but my thoughts
of him kept me awake until time to get up and go
down-stairs. I had conquered him, but I could sleep no
more.
Descending the steps, I noticed that the funeral
cortege was preparing to leave. The body had lain
in state all day and had been visited by many people.
Some services were apparently being held in the room,
but I heard neither singing nor other music. A crowd
of citizens in black clothes, and with silk hats that
had evidently been caught in many a shower, was
waiting in the corridor near the street door. When the
body was brought down from the silent room, instead
of being put into a hearse, it was borne through the
streets by the pall-bearers, and followed by the rela-
tives. All went on foot and I suppose that the burial
TO PANAMA
was in some church in the neighborhood. It was an
exceedingly silent and sensible funeraj, but probably
could not have been conducted so simply and quietly
in a large city. I was told that the deceased was
Jewish, a fact which may have given the peculiar
character to the ceremony. At any rate, it seemed in
good taste for a man thus to leave the world more qui-
etly than he had entered it.
Soon after the funeral procession had disappeared,
I started with Doctor Echeverria for the courtyard
of the International Club, where the bull-fight was
to take place, prepared for the sensation of my life.
I wished to see this relic of- Spanish medievalism, yet
dreaded somewhat the expected artistic display of
killing qualifications. Two bulls were to be killed.
CHAPTER XIV
The Bull-Fight
We arrived at the amphitheater a little before four
o'clock and found everything cheerful and lively as
befitted the occasion. Men and boys came in rapidly,
took their seats, lighted cigarets and began to call out
and joke with one another in a manner characteris-
tic of the Spanish bull-fight audience.
The arena was a square space located against the
side wall of a brick house and enclosed on the other
three sides by board fences about six feet high. Op-
posite the brick wall and commanding a good view
of it, a platform had been built for the common multi-
tude. On another side of the square was a similar
platform containing boxes for the alcalde (mayor)
and aristocratic few, including ladies. On the fourth
side a skeleton fence had been constructed apparently
for the benefit of children who could see but could
not pay; in our thrifty country the wall would have
been built so as to prevent the children seeing through
it. The doctor and I occupied chairs among the com-
mon multitude and had the best location, for it com-
manded a view of the boxes and of the two doors of the
bull pen beneath. On each of the four sides of the arena,
and about eighteen inches from the fence or wall, was
built a strong wooden screen wide enough to conceal
191
192 TO PANAMA
GRAiH CORRIDA PARA EL DOMINGO, ENERO 19 BE 1905.
Coo penmar d« U antoridad y ii el tiempo lo perwita M lidiarao, ea »1
PATIO DEL CLUB INTERISlACIONAL.
ciuco bwvos toros da 1* alauttda gauderift
"La J»gua" de propiedad del tefior Francisco A- MaUv, de los cuales seran
DOS DB MUERTE FOR EL ESPADA "CHALEeO"
La corrida sera presidida por el tefior Alcalde del-Distrito.
Tbi famoui Spanish Ball fighter and MuUdor " CH ALECO * will kill two Ball oa
6auday at 4 p. in.
Eutrftua* to Ball Ring below the "Interaatioual Club?.
Reserved. SeaU for.sala on Saturdry at the Walk-Over Shoe Store [American Bazaar].
J03K ^IMESKZ (a) C«»a-Aj><!lja. -PEDRO BAM1REZ (a) Rojalala.
RAFAEL LOPKZ (a) Hertizo; - ISMAKI. MENDOZA (a) El Polio.
flOMBRE DB LOS TOROS:
!•• J?Z FAXTASMA DE LA ESQUWA. g? ELAtfARQUl$TA.
** EL #0 riLERO. 4. S> ^Z BISTURL
6* EL RELAMPAQO.
PRECIOS DE EIITRADA3
Palco con 4 entradas $ 10,00. Sillas de preferencia 9 2,00.
Gradas „ 1,50 Entrada general „ 80.
Lo& «u<rada* M vendi-ran dcsde el Sabado hasta el Domingo a las 12 m, en *1 !BJU«O y afa-
m*do Almao4> "Batar Americano" y de las 12 hasta la< 4 p. m. en la BoleUrta do la Plaza.
KOTA — • La Banda de muiica tooai-A las i<iezas mfts esoogidas de so repertorio modarno.
La corrida eoipoiai 4 a la* 4 p. m. No BO admiui i diuero en las paertas ni ai-rojar al radon-
4«l obj«tos gua impidu 1m lidia.
THE BULL-FIGHT 193
four men standing side by side. Thus wherever the
fighters might be they were always near a place of
safety.
The alcalde appeared promptly at four o'clock, and
the National band played the National hymn. While
the music was playing and the audience cheering, a
gate opened and the gaudily dressed matador with
his five butterfly banderilleros ran in and bowed be-
fore the alcalde. They wore short scarlet cloaks, skin-
tight, emerald knee-breeches and whitish stockings.
The alcalde, who was dressed like a real man, was
master of ceremonies to give the sign to begin, to
give the sign to kill, and to give the sign to stop. The
matador, or killer, threw his show cloak up to the
box of the alcalde and the banderilleros, or dart-stick-
ers, threw their show cloaks up over the railing at
other places to be cared for by admiring spectators,
for they used old cloaks to fight with. There were no
picadores or mounted lancers.
The music ceased, the alcalde nodded, the bugle-
call sounded, the matador pirouetted and smiled, and
the green and glittering banderilleros lined up beside
the doors of the bull pen. One of the doors was
thrown open and the audience waited in suspense.
Suddenly out ran a well-formed animal into the light
and looked around and blinked in astonishment. His
name was "El Fantasma de la Esquina" (The Phan-
tom of the Corner).
The five banderilleros began to flutter about in
front of him and flaunt red cloaks at him. This he
apparently resented, but did not seem to know which
13
I94 TO PANAMA
cloak to hook at. Finally he charged at one, and then
at another, but paid no attention to the grass-colored
banderilleros. Before long one of the latter stepped
up and gracefully stuck two ornamental barbed darts
into his shoulders. This made the audience cheer and
caused "Fantasma de la Esquina" to run about and
jump and kick like a calf until the darts fell off. He
was then pursued and teased again. But his moral
nature was superior to that of his pursuers, for when
they spanked him on one side he jumped around and
presented the other. He only tried to defend himself
against the cloaks, the only things whose evil inten-
tions he seemed to suspect.
"No sirve" cried the crowd. (No good.)
And so thought the alcalde. The bull was unwor-
thy of death. He didn't know a red cloak from a
green banderillero.
"To his pen, to his pen," they cried. The alcalde
nodded, and the amiable bull was driven back, and
was a phantasm of the past.
Another bugle-call and another well-fed bull, "El
Anarquista" ventured out. As he emerged from the
door a couple of the barbed darts with gay ribbons
on them were stuck into his shoulders. Like the
"Fantasma" he bounded and kicked and stuck' up and
crooked his tail until the darts fell off, at which he
seemed greatly pleased, and quieted down for a rest.
However, the red cloaks kept bothering him, so he
made a short charge at one of them and then ran to
one side out of their way. But the cloaks got after
him like mosquitoes, so he charged another one and
THE BULL-FIGHT 195
then trotted about aimlessly, as if reasoning that to
keep running was the best way to keep from being
stung. A couple of darts were again hooked into his
shoulders, making him show his capers again until
they were shaken off. "El Anarquista" was also sen-
tenced to live and was shooed back to his pen. There
was nothing in his name.
The third bull, "El Novillero," the Greenhorn of
the Arena, received a dart in his shoulders as he came
out, and bounded to the center of the arena as if
looking for trouble. He kicked at the sky and snort-
ed at the ground and charged vigorously at the red
cloaks, and sent banderilleros scurrying behind the
screens and one of them over the back fence. He also
charged one of the screens, producing an exhilarating,
reverberating sound as his horns struck it, and win-
ning the applause of the populace. This full charge
upon the screen was by far the most exciting thing
that had happened.
After receiving some more darts in his shoulders
he charged again and ran straight after one of the
banderilleros who, however, outran him and thus
reached the screen and was safe. This is the first time
any of the bulls had really gone after a man. He was
the first one whose intelligence was anything like a
match for that of his antagonists. But even
this bull did not want to hurt any one. His attitude
was, "Let me alone or I'll hook you. Keep your dis-
tance or I'll chase you."
To me this fellow seemed, taking him for all in all,
brave enough to die for the benefit of Panamaniac
196 TO PANAMA
sport, but the alcalde thought not and the banderil-
leros tried to drive him back. But he would not go.
He was afraid to turn his short tail toward them
long enough to go through the door for fear they
would stick a pin into him. So, after many
futile efforts to drive him they let all of the
other bulls into the arena, "El Fantasma" "El Anar-
quista" "El Bisturi" (Lancet) and "El Relampago"
(Lightning). "El Novillero," the cautious, got into
the midst of them and they were all driven back into
the pen as a herd. It was perfectly disenchanting.
Another bugle call for another bull. After some hesi-
tation "El Bisturi" ran out and received two darts, but
he jumped and kicked cow-fashion until he finally also
shook them off. Either hides were tough that day or
barbs were dull, for not a dart had remained sticking.
Then the routine teasing began. He shook his horns at
the cloaks and charged them once or twice; then ran
away and was kept running all over the arena, fright-
ened and confused at the number of cloaks waving at
him from all sides. "El Bisturi" was the greatest run-
ner of them all.
"No sirve, no sirve" shouted the gods. "De nos
nuestra plata" (Give us our money.)
The alcalde smiled, gave the usual signal and "El
Bisturi" was driven back to his fodder.
A fifth bugle-call and out came "El Relampago"
(The Lightning). He kicked at the clouds, shook
off the darts, charged the cloaks, then stopped and
shook his horns at them, and after having had his lit-
tle sport, stood still and wondered what it was all
THE BULL-FIGHT 197
about anyway. They teased him, but he lost interest
in the game, although by means of head shakes, bluffs
and short charges he chased two men behind the
screens.
One of the banderilleros wished to show off and
tried to practice a trick of the trade. When the bull
made a short charge at his cloak the trickster jerked
up the cloak and whirled around so as to present his
unprotected back to the horns of the bull. He should
have waited until the bull had completed his charge
at the cloak and he would have been safe, but he
chose the time badly and "El Relampago ran into
him. But, the cloak having disappeared, the bull
raised his head and merely hit the fellow inadvertently
on the shoulders with his nose, instead of the other
place with his horns, and thus raised a laugh instead
of lifting the man. "El Relampago'' was a humorist
and a bluffer ; but there was no sting to his satire. He
was apparently more afraid of injuring what he con-
sidered to be one of his masters, than the banderillero
was of being hurt by him. He might, instead of
stopping like a horse caught by the bridle, have low-
ered his powerful head again and given the fellow
a boost to a warmer place than Panama.
"No sirve. Otro, otro," cried the crowd. (No good.
Another, another.)
But "El Relampago" was the last of the supply of
gladiatorial beef, so the alcalde signaled to have it
killed.
"Es un asesinado. No lo asesinar" (It's an assas-
sination. Do not assassinate him), yelled the crowd.
198 TO PANAMA
They wanted blood, but they wanted fighting blood,
not slaughter-house gore.
But the smiling matador stood before the box of the
alcalde with both hands raised to receive the official
nod. The alcalde nodded, partly from drowsiness,
whereupon the matador turned and danced off quick-
ly, like a martinette, toward the door and received his
sword.
The sword was a beautiful one, long and slender,
and so bright that it was only visible in the restless
hand of the bull-fighter by its flashing. He ran nim-
bly toward his victim, flourishing the weapon grace-
fully and ostentatiously, and began confusing the
tired, ill-conditioned and unsuspecting bull by swing-
ing a cloak before his eyes. The bull did not move,
except slightly with his head as he was being hyp-
notized. Suddenly there was a flash, and the man
stabbed the animal who had been so anxious not to
injure him. The deed was done so quickly that Doc-
tor Echeverria, whose sympathies were probably
slowing down his mental action, did not see it done.
The bull stood still for a moment, then turned and
ran to the center of the arena and, as it happened,
faced the alcalde who had ordered his death, and was
thus doing his best. He stopped still, lowered his
head, began to breathe heavily and lolled out his
tongue. He showed great distress and was evidently
bleeding internally. He stood that way for a few mo-
ments, then walked to the corner near his pen and
slowly lay down with his head drooping until his
nose nearly touched the ground. He evidently did
THE BULL-FIGHT 199
not understand how this trouble and suffering had
come to him.
The matador in the meantime strutted proudly in
front of the seats with hands up, smiling and bowing
for compliments that were not showered upon him.
Two negro menials went behind the dying bull to
put on the finishing touches. The bull lifted up his
head and turned it toward them, but not with his
former half-defiant, half-playful expression. It was
an expression of half alarm and half entreaty, and
said as plainly, and much more forcibly, than words
could have done, "Why did you hurt me? Don't
come at me again. I'm sick. I did nothing to any of
you." And he lowered his head again, and laid it down
on the ground, resigned to die, caring no longer what
they did.
"Asesinado," cried the crowd. (Assassinated.)
"Asesinado," re-echoed in every breast.
"De nos nuestra plata, Senor Alcalde, de nos nues-
tra plata.1' (Give us our money.)
One of the menials got behind the prostrate bull's
head and began sticking a narrow dagger into the
back of his neck, trying to find and sever the spinal
cord. After three or four stabs the object was ac-
complished, for the bull's body relaxed with sudden
paralysis. Thereupon the negro cut the paralyzed
animal's throat wide open, and blood poured out as
from a street hydrant. His limbs twitched a little
and he relaxed in death — and no one seemed to enjoy
it. It was much less satisfactory than a packing-house
exhibition.
200 TO PANAMA
Then they brought in two little mules in traces,
hooked a rope around the dead animal's horns and
tried to drag him out. The mules started and dragged
him to the center of the arena, with his nose digging
deep into the dirt so as to impede their progress. At
the center the mules stopped and gave up the task,
upon which two negroes got in front and pulled at
their heads, while another negro whipped them vig-
orously from behind. They started up, took a few
more steps forward and gave it up again.
"Whip the front mules," cried one of the gods, re-
ferring to the negroes who were pulling the mules —
and the gods laughed.
Finally, by pulling and pushing, the negroes suc-
ceeded in getting the dead bull out, one taking hold
of the tail and bending it over its back to pull with.
Only one bull had been killed and our desire for
gore was supposed to be incomplete. Our expecta-
tions were not realized. As no horses were to be
gored we did not get much for our money, and had
a right to see another bull killed as per program. In
Spain a man rides a blindfolded horse in front of the
bull and prods him in the forehead, until he disem-
bowels the horse. So another animal was admitted,
undoubtedly one of the first ones who had fought.
He looked like "El Anarquista" and acted like him,
for he could not be made to show fight — he had
learned that there was nothing in it for him except
a title that was not worth dying for. Hence he was
ignominiously driven back, like a tame bossie cow.
Then they let in one whose bloody shoulders bore
THE BULL-FIGHT 201
evidence of the previous encounter with darts and
banderilleros. He charged a little, but only in self-
defense. This was the third of those who had been
introduced, "El Novillero," the Greenhorn of the Are-
na, the only one who had shown any spirit. But that
was out of him now and he was as unwilling to do any
harm to his masters as the others had been.
The alcalde made a signal to stop the farce and the
show collapsed. Some got up to go and some sat
still; but no one paid any attention to the bull, who
stood where he had been left and contemplated the
moving crowd with wonder and uncertainty. How-
ever, he seemed quite contented to be a spectator.
The doctor and I sat silently in our seats, not be-
ing sufficiently excited either to say or do anything,
when unexpectedly the most interesting part of the
entertainment commenced. A boy nine or ten years
old crept over the low fence and sneaked toward the
screen in front of the brick wall near which the bull
stood, and ran behind it. Then he stepped forth,
held out his hand and when the bull looked at him
jumped back. Immediately two other boys who were
on the fence climbed down and sneaked behind the
screen, and also tried to tease the bull, who now placed
himself on the defensive. More boys jumped down
into the arena and began to leap about near the
screens and whistle and halloa at the astonished "No-
villero" As there were now too many little fellows
in the enclosure to find room behind the screens, I
began to fear for their safety. The noise and antics,
however, of so many little devils seemed to confuse
202 TO PANAMA
the dumb gladiator, and he merely remained on the
defensive, making feints at those who ventured near
him.
Bye and bye a boy about fifteen years of age pro-
cured one of the red cloaks, ran up to the bull and
shook it in his face, while he himself stood at one side
of it. The bull, who was not afraid of cloaks, made
a sort of short bluff charge at it and as he passed the
boy almost grazed him, for he was so near the brick
wall that there was hardly space for sidestepping.
The boy repeated the maneuver and so did the bull,
who was becoming trained to the cloak charging ex-
hibition and acquitted himself like a trained dog. This
greatly amused the spectators who knew what a sim-
ple matter it was to let a bull charge at a cloak with
closed eyes, for they always close their eyes just
before striking the object of attack. This closing of
the eyes is what gives the banderilleros the oppor-
tunity of performing apparently perilous antics right
in the path of a bull, who also completes his charge
when he strikes the cloak, particularly if he considers
himself merely on the defensive, as most of them do.
There were now about forty little boys in the arena,
and when the boy with the cloak got tired the. whole
crowd of children rushed toward the animal, who
backed up against the wall and stood at bay with"
head down. Now for some broken bones, I thought.
Little by little the crowd grew bolder and came
quite close to him. Giving plenty of warning, he
made a short, slow charge at them and sent them
scattering and hooting and yelling in all directions.
THE BULL-FIGHT 203
A cow would have hooked them. After a couple of
similar bluffs he started on a trot after them, stopped
in the middle of the arena, then went back to the wall
and again assumed a restful defensive attitude. He
was a good bull to have about children. Evidently
he did not wish to injure any one, and I think that
but for the recollection of the severe treatment he
had received from the banderilleros previously, he
would have entered into the spirit of the game with
the boys and would have enjoyed it. And yet this
* animal had been brought in to be pricked with barbed
darts, teased with red cloaks, stabbed with a sword,
to have his spine transfixed and his throat cut — rough
treatment for an animal who refused to harm the
children. We left the children playing with him.
Doctor Echeverria had not discussed the bull farce
at the time, nor did he do so on the way back to the
hotel, but while we were at dinner he suddenly said
in his gentle, deliberate way:
"Do you know, doctor, there are some things we
see in our lives that we can never forget, things that
mark off periods in our lives? I feel that this bull-
fight is one of those things/'
"You are right," I said, trying to cheer him. "Il
was neither a bull-fight nor a bully fight, it was mere-
ly a fight between bulls and bullies."
In the evening the regular Sunday open-air con-
cert was given in the Parque de la Catedral, in front
of Hotel Central. We did not go out and prome-
nade, for with the morning excursion to the sabanas
to tire us, the funeral to depress us, the bull-fight to
204 TO PANAMA
haunt us, and our failure to win at the lottery to
shame us, we were content to retire early and listen
to the music and mosquitoes through the bars.
I lay listening to the well-played music, sometimes
loud and martial as for soldiers marching to battle,
at other times rhythmic and sensuous as for dancing,
or soft and sentimental as for love-making, until I
fell asleep to dream. I dreamed of a place where
there was no killing for sport, no premature dying from
disease, no gambling with lottery tickets, no
scale of unearned wages, no rivalry for luxury and
no system of imposition upon the weak by the crafty.
Such a world there is, but it is in the region of the
spirit or in the land of dreams, not in Panama nor in
Pan-America.
PART II
THE PAN-AMERICAN
MEDICAL CONGRESS
PART II
CHAPTER I
The Opening of the Congress
Preparations for the Congress — Secretary Calvo — President
Icaza's Hospitality — Arrival of the Western Contingent —
Doctors and Drink — Reception by Doctor Amador,
President of Panama — The Palacio de Gobierno — Former
Presidents and Governors — Mrs. Amador — The President
— Revolutions and Their Origin — Opening Exercises
of the Congress — Eastern Contingent Absent — The
$25,000 Barrel — Speeches by Mr. Wallace, Mr. Robinson,
Doctor Gorgas, and Music by the Band — The Panama
Railway — Poetry and Prophecy by Punch.
On Monday, January 2nd, the preparations for the
Pan-American Medical Congress began in earnest. Dr.
Jose E. Calvo, the secretary, with a smile that never
came off, worked like a little Hercules for the con-
gress that almost never came off. Upon his shoulders
rested the responsibility of making preparations for
the scientific program, and although he was the whole
thing, so to speak, he was not even hustling and im-
patient in his demeanor. His affability was so great
and his manners so quiet that he really seemed meek,
207
208 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
as all high officials should. High officials so often for-
get that they are servants.
The president of the congress, Dr. Julio Icaza, had
no time to smile. In preparing for the social part of
the program he did a prodigious amount of work that
will never be appreciated by those who went to be
entertained, and found it so easy. Early in the after-
noon he arrived from Colon, with our Western con-
tingent. He and Senor Obarrio, the treasurer of the
Republic of Panama, who had $25,000 to devote to
the entertainment of the Medical Congress, had gone
to receive as befitted the profession of Panama to re-
ceive, and the profession of the republic that had done
so much for Panama to be received. The treasurer
expressed the visitors through from Colon to Panama
free of charge and I am sure that President Icaza
gave them the South American pledge of hospitality;
for, from first to last, he omitted no essential and neg-
lected no individual. In the evening he invited Doc-
tor Echeverria and me into the barroom and main-
tained the elevated dignity of his office, his congress
and his country by toasting the United States over a
bottle of champagne.
Champagne is the only appropriate drink for an
international toast. It meets the requirements of
courtly etiquette and social aristocracy. It has the
favor and patronage of kings and connoisseurs, and
is adopted and bruited by the nobility abroad and the
capitalists at home. It is the royal nectar, the spar-
kling sip, the golden prod of pampered palates, the
coveted badge of aping mediocrity, the ostentatious
THE OPENING OF THE CONGRESS 209
smack of upstart opulence. Therefore, let those who
can afford aristocratic dissipation and affect the dis-
tinction of highborn headaches drink it and feel proud
and pampered. But those who are less ambitious can
find choicer bouquets in cheaper wines.
Among the feted and dead-headed travelers I rec-
ognized Dr. N. Senn, Sr., Dr. Lucy Waite, Dr. and
Mrs. D. R. Brower, and Drs. Jacob Frank, H. P.
Newman, A. B. Hale and C. G. Wheeler, all of Chi-
cago; Dr. Chas. W. Hughes of St. Louis; Dr. and
Mrs. George W. Crile of Cleveland; Dr. Morrow of
San Francisco; Dr. and Mrs. Palmer of Janesville,
Wis. ; Dr. and Mrs. Edgar P. Cooke of Mendota, 111. ;
and Dr. and Mrs. Wilcox of Michigan City, Ind.
Things immediately became lively about the hotel
corridor and barroom. A new world greeted the
pilgrims from the wild West and frigid North, and
they were pleased with it. Extremes and opposites
met, and there was ebullition.
Colonel Gorgas, Captain Carter, Major La Garde
and other U. S. officers and officials called at the hotel
during the evening, and also spent considerable time
during the days that followed in lounging around try-
ing to make us feel at home and adding much to the
goodfellowship of our visit. But none of these gen-
tlemen drank promiscuous toasts. In fact, I soon
learned that the American officers on duty, as well as
the Panama physicians, drank but little if any liquor,
thus proving the rule that "In Panama one should do
as the Panamanians do," by constituting exceptions.
Since hard drinking and hard working are both con-
u
210 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
sidered to be injurious habits in the tropics, I won-
dered at the popularity of the barroom, and conclud-
ed that the hard drinkers compromised with their
conscience by observing the tropical rules of health
concerning hard working. The abstemiousness of
the doctors was perhaps on the other hand due to the
fact that they indulged in hard work. This abstemi-
ousness was greatly to their credit, since from their
irregular and strenuous modes of life, doctors, both
in and out of the tropics, are apt to become addicted
to the use of sedatives and stimulants. I have noticed
with regret that in the United States the red nose
and mottled cheek is occasionally seen among elder-
ly physicians, indicating that many resorts had been
had to the fancied comfort, the second-hand cheer and
spurious stimulation of alcoholics. Statistics assert
that three fourths of the French morphine users are
physicians. A knowledge of the effects of evil does
not always act as a preventive.
At 2 P. M. Tuesday we registered as members of
the congress and at 4 P. M. attended a reception ten-
dered us by Doctor Amador, president of the Repub-
lic of Panama, at the Palacio de Gobierno, the Panama
White House, which is painted blue. The second or
upper floor was occupied by him as a residence, and
the lower floor by the treasury department of the state
on one side and the soldier-police on the other. The
palace was a rectangular, two-story corner one cover-
ing about fifty by seventy-five feet, built solidly
against the adjoining buildings. The entrance led
into a tiled patio or court of about twenty-five by thirty
THE OPENING OF THE CONGRESS 211
feet, at the rear end of which a broad stairway led up to
the balcony. The balcony extended all around the
court, and served as an outdoor hall or passageway
to the rooms. There was no inner hall, but the rooms
were connected by doors so that one could pass from
one to the other, the same as is usually the case in
palaces and art galleries. In fact, the building served
both as palace and art gallery, for around the wall of
the rectangular reception-room, hung high up near
the ceiling in oval frames, were bust portraits in oil of
all of the presidents and governors of Panama from
about the year 1855 down to date, with their names and
the dates of their terms of office printed under them.
There were pictures of twenty-five presidents and
thirteen governors, if my memory does not deceive
me. The first president served about three months,
the second one about thirteen, and the others from a
few months to two years — only two or three of them
longer than that. How they found so many great
men in so small a country, willing to give up so short
a time from their private business, and risk the lives
of their friends in a tit-for-tat with the previous gov-
ernment is a matter of no small wonder. Some of
them were patriots and some were politicians, or rev-
olutionists. Revolution is the Spanish for election.
In Spanish America the president holds office until
the next revolution. If the revolution is unsuccessful
he is elected for another term. The governors, of
course, ruled longer than the presidents for they were
appointed and supported by the Colombian govern-
ment, which, in turn, was for a long time supported
212 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
largely by Panama and de Lesseps. President Ama-
dor had previously served a term as governor, and
probably would not have been selected as president
had he not been a good governor. He was a survival
of the fittest.
President and Mrs. Amador received us in a very
gracious and informal manner, and as there were but
few present each of us had an opportunity of convers-
ing freely with them. All conversed with Mrs. Ama-
dor, but only two of us understood or made ourselves
understood, for she did not understand and speak En-
glish as her husband did. However, she was
lively and interesting for all that, and was such a good
listener that she kept her guests talking English in
their very best style, most of them supposing that
they were making a favorable impression. She was
a handsome woman of medium height and figure, and
much younger and more vigorous looking than her
husband, who began to practice medicine about fifty
years ago and therefore must have been much older
than he appeared. He was tall, slim and serious look-
ing. He seemed delicate because slim and quiet, but
I believe the slender and delicate looking men work
and last better in the tropics than those who carry
superfluous flesh which, notwithstanding the pride
taken in it by its possessors, is a sign of physical de-
terioration. He had a dignified and what might be
called a matter-of-fact bearing, with nothing suggest-
ive of Spanish or French formality. His appearance
was that of a cultured American of quiet tempera-
ment who was content to pass unnoticed in a crowd.
THE OPENING OF THE CONGRESS 213
He was cordial although undemonstrative in his treat-
ment of us, and was anxious to do everything in his
power to please us and, in fact, did everything he could
except get up a revolution for our entertainment.
This he utterly refused to do, although it could have
been very easily managed — anybody could have started
a revolution. But he was obstinate.
The modus operandi of a revolution was about as
follows : Whenever a popular man in one of the out-
lying districts got tired of work he would throw down
the ploughshare and say to his numerous friends,
"Come, boys, let's go and tell the president what to do
next. If he doesn't want to do it next, why we'll do it.
If those little blue-coats in the patio don't tumble over
to our side, we'll knock them over, and run the govern-
ment on business and patriotic principles, and put the
idle money of the treasury in circulation."
This was the spirit of revolutions in Panama, this
democratic spirit that gave any one who had friends
the opportunity at any time to serve them by becom-
ing their president. Every man had a right to be the
president except the man who was. Instead of coun-
tenancing this spirit by starting new revolutions for
Uncle Sam to quell, the president-doctor offered us
the champagne of good-fellowship and the cigaret of
peace. This is Uncle Sam's kind of revolution. It
is the new brand. The old kind is going out. U. S.
is no longer a colonel or a judge ; he is a peacemaker.
With U. S. out of the way, however, the Panaman-
ians are great fighters. They are not a bit afraid of
killing one another, and the man who is afraid of
214 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
death and bombs had better not run counter to them
when they are out for political sport. But if we (U.
S.) carry out our peculiar ideas in Panama and estab-
lish permanent peace there, what will become of the
warriors and the warlike nation? Will they, and it,
not become extinct through change of environment?
Will not peace kill more in the end than war ? When
Panama has become U.S.-ified will not the Panaman-
ians become ossified and inert, and those of U. S. who
take their places debilitate and degenerate from dig-
ging in canal dirt? Are there not blights as well as
blessings of peace? Can the Anglo-Saxons perma-
nently conquer the tropics? Not until they grow
black in the face.
In the evening the opening exercises of the congress
were held in the theater. We put on our swallowtails
and chapeau-claques and sauntered around the cor-
ner to the gaily decorated and illuminated theater
building to which the band lured us, and where the
dignitaries of the republic and Canal Zone awaited us.
And they gave us a welcome commensurate with their
dignity and the importance of the aims of the con-
gress. Nothing was lacking but numbers to render
the event one of historical grandeur. However, if
the Congresistas were not numerous, a large audi-
ence rendered the defect unnoticeable.
The Eastern contingent was still on the ocean and
was missing it all. But they were good sailors and
didn't mind it. They were cracking jokes and break-
ing bottles over their misfortune, and expecting to
get in on the last day, just in time for a "home run."
THE OPENING OF THE CONGRESS 215
Easterners are rich. They have plenty of opportuni-
ties at home to wear swallowtails and listen to music
and drink champagne. But we poor Westerners were
having the time of our lives. We and a few Central
Americans were having it all. We and the $25,000 bar-
rel were there. Twenty-five of us were to be enter-
tained for four days with it ; $250 a day each. Pana-
ma, the poorest of republics, is the most hospitable of
nations. Her liberality is without precedent. I thought
of the Persian proverb, "It does not thunder until the
lightning has struck." The lightning had struck. We
were waiting for the thunder.
On the stage were President Amador, President
Icaza, Secretary Calvo, Chief Engineer Wallace, Mr.
Robinson, Colonel Gorgas, Major La Garde, Captain
Carter and the members of the congress.
President Amador opened the congress by welcom-
ing us in the name of the Republic of Panama.
The Panama band of thirty pieces then played the
National air.
Mr. Wallace gave a resume of the work accom-
plished on the canal. So far it had been necessarily
preparatory and consisted mainly of an examination
and study of the French work and plans, the clearing
away of debris, repair of the old machinery, an exam-
ination of the ground, calculation of difficulties, es-
timation of the working capacity of new machinery,
and the determination of the cost and time required to
build a canal at sea level, and one with locks. The ex-
cavation of the 100,000,000 cubic feet of dirt and
stone at the Culebra cut, and its transportation ten
216 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
miles away where floods could not bring it back,
was the dominant feature of the work. It would
take nearly three times as long to accomplish this
as to construct the other portions of the canal.
Mr. Wallace thought that with the improved machin-
ery of to-day the construction of a sea-level canal was
feasible. However, a canal with locks could be con-
structed in a much shorter time and could be deepened
while being used, and the sea-level canal could be left
as a problem for the next century. This last sugges-
tion about the next century, however, was not made
by Mr. Wallace. It is my bright idea.
When the speaker sat down the Panama band again
filled the building with stirring strains of music, rest-
ing our minds and preparing us for the appreciation
of the other addresses. As at the opening of the
third Pan-American Medical Congress at Havana
three years before, music constituted a liberal part of
the program and relieved it of the monotony of con-
tinuous speech-making.
Then Mr. Robinson, who had lived in Panama forty
years, and during quite a large part of that time had
witnessed about a revolution a year, spoke of the prim-
itive conditions before the railroad was built. .It was
built under great difficulties and with scarcely any
money. It was opened Jan. 31, 1855, and had earned
$4,000,000 a year, a pretty good percentage on scarce-
ly anything. Its opening constituted the greatest revo-
lution the country had ever experienced.
Apropos of this railroad, Ex-Senator Bill Nye is
reported in the Chicago Daily News of April 20, 1905,
THE OPENING OF THE CONGRESS 217
to have said, "That Panama railway is a cinch. They
have one train, which they run over and back daily,
and a few cars, the daily operating expense footing
up to $39, and one day's income that I was down
there, for freight and passengers, was $9,000. It beats
any railroad on the globe for profit, according to its
equipment and trackage." The inference is that about
$9,000 was earned daily with a daily outlay of about
$39 and an original investment of almost nothing. If
the word Panama means good fishing, this story is
appropriately told about Panama. Nevertheless the
railroad stock must be good, and Uncle Sam owns
the stock.
Mr. Robinson stated that the canal had been first
planned by an American, but had proved a failure be-
fore it was begun. It was then planned by the French
and had proved a failure after it was begun. The
first American attempt showed how not to begin it,
the French attempt showed how not to do it, and it
was now for the Americans to show how not to fail.
Mons. de Lesseps was an honest man, but was not
a practical engineer. He was getting old at the time
he undertook the work, and was in the hands of his
friends. His friends, however, couldn't do the work,
so they did him ; they wouldn't work anyway, so they
worked him every way. But the world still thinks
well of him. He was too good for the world about
him.
That the so-called Yankee is the man to build the
canal is proved by a poem printed over fifty years ago
218 THE PAN -AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
in the London Punch (1851), of which the following
is a quotation:
O'er Panama there was a scheme
Long talked of to pursue a
Short route — which many thought a dream
By Lake Nicaragua.
John Bull discussed the plan on foot,
With slow irresolution,
While Yankee Doodle went and put
It into execution.
Mr. Robinson claimed that although yellow fever
had always existed in Panama it had not been epi-
demic for over fifty years, and the band played long
and loud.
Colonel Gorgas then spoke of the sanitary prob-
lems, the most important of which was the killing of
a female mosquito. Her death was necessary for the
success of the undertaking. This mosquito, whose
official name is Stegomyia Fasciata, a second Agrip-
pina, was suspected of infecting people with yellow
fever twenty years ago by Dr. Carlos J. Finley. Now
she is considered to be the sole cause. It will be diffi-
cult to dislodge her from the twenty odd villages with
12,000 inhabitants scattered over a strip of territory
nearly fifty miles long by ten wide. But by means of
drainage of most of the surface water, the covering
of the rest with oil and screens, the protection of the
houses and beds by window screens and mosquito bars
and the isolation of all new cases, she will not only
be drouthed out, but will not be able to get at any dis-
THE OPENING OF THE CONGRESS 219
eased or disused individuals to obtain fresh supplies
of the poison.
The sanitary work had hardly been begun, yet al-
ready the conditions were very much better than they
had ever been before. Uncle Sam is accomplishing
great things in the world through his reforms, not
only in politics but also in hygiene. It is the only way
to conquer the tropics.
Secretary Calvo made a few graceful remarks ex-
tending the hospitality of the city to the members. He
announced that the United States, Mexico, Guatemala,
Honduras, Costa Rica, San Domingo, Cuba and Peru
had sent delegates.
President Amador then arose as a sign that the ex-
ercises were over, and we returned to the hotel to
become better acquainted with each other. Afterward
we went up to our mosquito bars, enthusiastic over
the morrow's program of scientific work as well as
the thunder that was to come, and keep on coming.
CHAPTER II
Breakfast and Dinner on the Same Day
Lively Coffee — Eleven O'clock Breakfast on the Prairies —
Appetizers Wasted — Music by the Band — The National
Hymn and Its Composer — Laying up for a Rainy
Season — The Banquet at Hotel Central — Menu Trans-
lated— Musical Program — Speeches by Experts; One
out of Place and One out of Sight — Mixing Wines —
Nightcaps at the Club — Too much Dining.
On Wednesday we awoke fully fledged members of
the $25,000 Pan-American Medical Congress, wonder-
ing if from a scientific and assimilative point of view
we should be able to accomplish all that the occasion
called for.
It was lively at coffee. Several doctresses and doc-
tors' wives were present and they, as well as some of
the doctors who had always been accustomed to eat-
ing in the morning, had to be instructed in the art of
early fasting ; and the poor waiters had to be protect-
ed from them. After finding out that nothing but
unsweetened oranges, water rolls and bitter coffee
with milk were allowed, one lady wanted water in
her coffee, another wanted cream, another could not
take milk in any form, another wanted tea, jelly, etc.,
etc. To be served bitter coffee without cream, and to
be offered nothing to eat but cold dry water rolls and
220
BREAKFAST AND DINNER SAME DAY 221
orange juice, was already enough to condemn the ho-
tel and the country. The ladies wished they were
home where they could have ham and eggs and fried
potatoes, corn muffins and watered coffee weakened
with cream. The practice of every-day patriotism
should begin with breakfast.
"Well ! I can't talk all morning in congress on an
empty stomach/' said one of the lady doctors.
"This is terrible," sighed a doctor's wife. "I have
to eat to maintain my health and strength."
"How can you, when you haven't any health and
strength?" said her husband.
"When I eat I believe in having something to chew
on," said a stomach specialist.
"It is terrible to have to fast when you want your
breakfast," sighed the doctor's wife.
"It's foolish to want your breakfast when you have
to fast," said her husband. "When you are in Rome,
"If I could only speak Spanish like a man, I'd stir
things up here," said she.
"If I could only talk like a woman, so would I ; but
I'm only a man," said he.
Upon this one of the doctors stood up and said
that he had quite enjoyed his milk-coffee, water rolls
and tongue sandwiches. The ladies looked about the
room in search of the sandwiches while the men
smiled and left the table, declaring that they also had
enjoyed them, particularly the sandwiches.
At eight o'clock cabs drove up and took us to the
sdbanas over the same route that I had gone on New
222 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
Year's day. But it was not a holiday and the natives
were not exhibiting themselves, and the drive was not
very interesting. We stopped at the Country Club
grounds, which were not as attractive as those of
Senor Arango's place that I had visited, but were
much larger and had a roomy two-story frame house
with a veranda all around it wide enough to serve us
as a dining-room. The club superintended the prepa-
rations, although the Washington Hotel of Colon had
a contract for the provisions. Hence the provisions
were plentiful and the service unexceptionable.
The day was pleasant and cool for Panama, and
quite endurable in the early morning. We wandered
about the grounds for a while examining the tropical
trees and telling each other all about them. Then we
took photographs of ourselves under trees and talked
and watched the preparations for the breakfast on the
veranda. Some one asked me to go up and look at the
house. I did so but only got as far as the veranda,
for I noticed a corner room opening on it that was
crowded with fellow congresistas ; and after I had
succeeded in crowding in saw what would have made
Milwaukee and Louisville glad at heart if they had
been there. But neither of them were there in the
flesh. There was beer, whiskey and White Rock water
enough to overcome the drouth of a German regi-
ment or the American army. It seemed a pity that
some one from Milwaukee was not there to help us
out, for there was a heaping hogshead full of Blue
Label beer in quart bottles, and not a bottle was
opened 'that day; there were two hundred bottles of
CLUB HOUSE ON THE SABANAS
Table Being Set for Our Banquet Breakfast
BREAKFAST AND DINNER SAME DAY 223
White Rock water, and only fifty were opened; there
were a dozen quart bottles of whiskey and only ten
were drunk.
Santos Jorge's band of thirty vigorous music-mak-
ers was there to give tone and tune to the occasion
and did its best to rouse up and intoxicate us with mar-
tial and patriotic pieces played at frequent intervals.
Mr. Santos Jorge, who was the leader of the band
and the almost constant companion of the medical
congressmen, was the most prominent musician in the
republic. He had been in Panama thirteen years and
was the director of the Panama Conservatory of Mu-
sic. He had been a student of the Madrid Conserva-
tory and took a prize when he graduated. The Himno
Istmeno, or Panama National Hymn, is one of his
compositions and seemed to compare favorably with
the national airs of other countries. His band was
made up of whites, negroes and half-breeds, who were
all well trained and played well, although a trifle too
staccato and fortissimo for our anti-emotional Anglo-
Saxon temperament.
As the slight effect of the early coffee and rolls
upon our premature emptiness had worn off by ten
o'clock, and there were no more trees or houses on
the place to explain and explore, and no new subjects
for conversation, we hovered around the veranda lis-
tening to music and drinking White Rock for an ap-
petite. After having our official picture taken for the
benefit of medical history, we sat down to breakfast.
The tables were spread for a hundred and there
were only about forty of us, including Panamanians;
224 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
but as our emptiness grew our courage developed, and
each of us laid up enough for a rainy day. The dif-
ference between this breakfast, sent by the Washing-
ton Hotel from Colon, and the cold bread and bitter
coffee breakfast eaten and execrated at the Hotel Cen-
tral a few hours before, was freely expressed in femi-
nine English, which was loud in praise of Washington
and in condemnation of Gran Central.
We returned to Panama at two o'clock, and occupied
our time from three to six with the reading and discus-
sion of monographs on surgery and gynecology, to the
great satisfaction and entertainment of the readers and
talkers.
At half past seven o'clock we gathered in the large
parlor of Hotel Central and waited impatiently for the
signal to descend to the banquet. We had eaten
enough at eleven o'clock to nourish us for two or more
days, and were now to eat enough for four or more
days, since the menu was twice as elabrate. But we re-
membered that many stomachs are ruined by dieting,
and resolved not to be ruined in that way. I give
a translation with this menu for the benefit of those
who have no dictionary, and no objection.
MENU.
HOES D'CEUVRES.
Olives. Jambon. Canapes de Caviar.
POTAGE.
Consomm6 Sevign6.
POISSON.
Corbina & la Trouville.
BREAKFAST AND DINNER SAME DAY 225
MENU— Continued.
ENTRIES.
Vol au Vent Richelieu. File" t Piqu6 & la Parisienne.
PIECE FROIDE.
Aspic de Foie — Gras Bellevue.
LEGUMES.
Asperges — Sauce Mousseline.
R6TI.
Lindonneau a la Broche. Salade de Saison.
DESSERT.
Glace Marie Louise. Petits Fours. Piece Mont6e
VINS.
Xeres. Chateau La Tour Blanche. Chablis. Margaux.
Gorton. Pommard.
CHAMPAGNES.
G. H. Mumm. Moet et Chandon.
TRANSLATION OF MENU.
EXTRA WORK.
Olives, Goodleg. Sofas of Caviar.
POTTAGE.
Accomplished Sevigne".
POISON.
Crow a la Trouville.
ENTRIES.
Fly-away Richelieu. Quilted Thread a la Paris- woman.
COLD PIECE.
Asp Liver — Fleshy Fineview.
LEGGINS.
Saucy Aspersions of Muslin.
ROT.
London Water a la Spit — Salad of the Seasons.
DISSERTATION.
Frosted Marie Louise. Small Furnaces. Mounted Play.
15
226 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
TRANSLATION OF MENU— Continued.
WINES.
Xerxes. Catwater of White Tower. Cat Bliss.
Magpies. Courting Pomade.
SHAM PAINS.
G. H. Mummy. Mouth and Chindown.
After seeing the bill of fare thus exposed in plain
English the reader will realize what an abomination
such banquets are, and why the French language is
used to express and extenuate them.
The musical program was well selected and well
executed, and deserved to be recorded. The musicians
played with great spirit and helped the blood to the
brain and the word to the tongue much better than
the eight brands of wine and fourteen varieties of
food.
PROGRAMA.
QUE EJECUTARX LA BANDA REPUBLI&ANA.
Himno Istmeno, .. ' . . . . S.Jorge A.
Vals— "Red, White and Blue.". "On American
Airs," Tovani.
Sinfonia— "Naiade," .... C. Carlini.
"Ramona" Two-Step, . . . . Johnson
Mazurka — "Feliz ASo," .... Jean Oliver.
Vals — "Amoureuse," Berger.
Scena e Duetto nelT Opera Rigoletto, . Verdi.
Two-Step — "Yankee Girl," .... Lampe.
Vals— "Les Patineurs," .... Waldteufel
Selections from "The Prince of Pilsen," . . Luders.
"American Guard" Quickstep, S' . . Brooks.
"Quartette di Concerto," .... Perolini.
El Director,
SANTOS JORGE A.
BREAKFAST AND DINNER SAME DAY 227
President Amador and the high functionaries of
state were there to encourage us in our efforts to do
justice to what was spread before us, and Mrs. Ama-
dor and other first ladies of the land were there to
inspire the speakers.
Speeches were made by President Icaza, U. S. Min-
ister Barrett, the Panamanian Treasurer, the Minister
of War, Doctor Brower, Doctor Senn, and others
whose names I did not learn, each in his own language
and each one creditable to the speaker and to his coun-
try. In order to give a semblance of spontaneity to
the speeches, each speaker had a number given him,
and when a speaker had spoken and the band had
played, the one with the next number would stand
up unannounced and speak as if inspired by the pre-
ceding speaker and by the occasion. This would have
worked charmingly had not the crowd called upon an
extra speaker early in the evening. Doctor Brower,
whose medieval ancestors had been subject to Span-
ish rule, and who inherited the temperament of a
Spaniard and the physique of two Spaniards, did
not understand Spanish. He, therefore, did not know
that an extra man without a number had spoken. So
he mistook his count and arose a number ahead of
his turn, and ahead of the speaker whom he was to
have followed, and whose speech was supposed to in-
spire his. But the doctor was equal to the occasion
and spoke with as much eloquence as if his speech
was in place, and as if people knew who he was and
what he said. His speech elicited much applause,
particularly from the highest ladies of the land and
228 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
others who did not understand English. It was one
of the best speeches of the evening, only it was out of
place.
But the speech of the evening was that of Minister
Barrett, who, I suppose, never was, and never will be, a
minister of the gospel; he is in politics. His speech
was full of wit, satire and good-natured banter, de-
livered in a full-chested baritone voice, and made one
think that to hear a good after-dinner speech was
worth a bad attack of matutinal indigestion.
The serving at table was quite rapid and satisfactory
except that some of the many different kinds of wine
looked alike, and tasted quite unlike, and the waiters
mixed them up as they went around filling partially
emptied glasses. The result was disastrous to the
nerves of such connoisseurs as we all were. But in
consequence of rapid serving and short speeches, the
entertainment was over in time for the guests to go
over to the clubs in their cocktail coats, and have more
refreshments and a few straight nightcaps to settle
the blended wines, and thus oblige no one to get into
one of those hotel beds until his mind at least was
properly made up.
Just what kind of water the Panamanians offered
the Panamericans, and just what the Panamericans
accepted from the Panamanians, I can not say from
observation, but I know that the Panamanians offered
generously and that the Panamericans were kindly
disposed to do their duty. "New occasions teach new
duties/' as Lowell said. Feasts are better than fevers
and postprandials preferable to postmortems, was the
concensus of the congress.
BREAKFAST AND DINNER SAME DAY 229
Having two more banquets to contend with during
the following twenty-four hours, as well as a short
scientific session to keep awake at, I sneaked off to
bed when others went to the clubs, remembering the
proverb that "He who eats and runs away may live
to eat some other day," and hoped they were as happy
as they thought they were.
During these two days they dined and dinned us
without intermission. Eating and drinking to the
strains of stirring music occupied most of our time
and attention outside of the scientific meetings, and it
became necessary to give more thought to the filling of
our stomachs at table than to the unloading of our
minds upon the congress. Indeed, it was difficult to
enjoy the scientific meetings when the energies were
so heavily taxed with gastric and gustatory functions.
If we had not had so many good times we should have
enjoyed the meeting more.
CHAPTER III
Panama Bay and Paramount Barrett
An Excursion to the Island of Toboga — Panama from the
Sea — A Picturesque Village — A Delightful Stroll to the
Sanatorium — A Banquet Aboard — We Return Refreshed
and Invigorated — A Dinner with Minister Barrett — His
Travels and Experiences — He Wheedles One Empress
a.nd Amuses Another, Beats Admiral Dewey, Refuses a
Harem, Shocks a Female Boarding-school, Suppresses a
Revolution, Discourses upon Elephants and Has a Joke
Played upon Him— At the Ball— Mr. and Mrs. Wallace—
Twenty-five Thousand Dollars for Grave Digging.
An excursion and banquet on the bay and a visit
to Toboga Island twelve miles out had been planned
for us, and we assembled Thursday morning at eight
o'clock at the railway station. A short ride by rail
took us to the large pier at the Boca or mouth of the
canal from which a channel has been dredged through
the shallow water out to the Island of Perico. We start-
ed from the Boca because the pier at the city of Panama
stood on dry land at low tide, and the boats were lying
about on their sides much of the time.
President Amador and Mrs. Amador were present,
having embraced this opportunity to make the excur-
sion with us and visit their country residence on
the Island of Toboga where they were to remain a
few days. Colonel Gorgas and Captain Carter and
230
PANAMA BAY AND PARAMOUNT BARRETT 231
their families, as well as several other Canal Zone and
Panamanian government officials, were also among the
passengers.
Two boats had been engaged and two banquets pre-
pared, but as half of the congress was still on the At-
lantic Ocean, there was no use in reserving a boat and
a banquet for it on the Pacific, so we discharged
one boat and took all of the provisions with us on the
other, thus guarding against a banqueters' famine.
As we steamed along the shore our old Spanish-
looking town of Panama was on our left and the trop-
ical islands on our right. The city, which occupied a
rugged projection of land, was a picturesque sight in
the intense morning sunlight. The white gleaming
walls, dark roofs and deep shadows formed a lively
contrast, and were beautifully framed by the blue of
the sea below and sky above, and the green of the fo-
liage around them. When opposite the city the boat
turned stern toward Panama and passed outward be-
tween the islands, some of which were quite large
and some very small. The small ones looked like
mountain-tops and ridges projecting out of the water,
and probably formed parts of a submerged ridge. The
sea was smooth and the sea breeze felt refreshing
and cool to us in our duck pants and pongee coats,
and the two hours of riding to Toboga passed quickly
and comfortably. The word comfortably expresses a
great deal in the tropics, and means more than the
words fun and enjoyment. There is a suggestion of
good luck and thankfulness in it.
At Toboga a. cluster of tiny red-tiled houses
232 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
stretched along the shore between the blue sea in front
and the higher, densely foliaged land behind, consti-
tuting a little fishing village of wondrous beauty as
viewed from the boat. Arriving off shore we sent
the President and Mrs. Amador to the beach in a
row boat, for there was no disfigurement of nature
by piers or breakwaters.
Tempted by the beauty and novelty of the foliage,
several of us hired one of the row boats that hovered
about the steamer, and were soon on dry land. As a
fresh cooling sea breeze was blowing we had a pleas-
ant walk of about a quarter of a mile to the sanatori-
um, a two-story, wooden, rectangular building which
was built on posts over the water's edge and girded
by the conventional wide veranda. It is said to have
cost about $200,000, and was built for convalescent
and debilitated employees of the French Canal Com-
pany. In Chicago it could have been built, I should
say, for about $2,000, but would have been a ruin long
ago. There were good baths and a fine spring near
by. With the island-bound bay and cool sea breeze
on one side and the luxuriant tropical forest on the
other, it was an ideal place for invalids and poets, but
a very idle place for well people. It was a place for
lounging, dreaming, bathing, smoking, and romantic
gazing at the beautiful sky and earth. But active
outdoor sports were incompatible with the climate,
and the social and business activities that were needful
to relieve the monotonous splendor of nature were lack-
ing.
We sauntered back to the landing-place picking
TABOGA ISLAND
PANAMA BAY AND PARAMOUNT BARRETT 233
ripe mangoes and accepting large pineapples from
the natives, who would take no pay because we were
guests of the president. Altogether the novelty of
the little stroll on this most beautiful of tropical islands
produced a feeling of enthusiasm and admiration for
nature such as we used to experience as boys when
we visited new scenes with new eyes. It seemed like
something new under the sun.
On our way back to Panama we sat down to a ban-
quet breakfast of the same character as on the sabanas
the day before and which, with the sea air, the stroll
on the island, and the starvation "coffee-breakfast" in
the early morning to perform the function of appetiz-
ers, we ate with as much if not more relish.
In the evening Dr. Lucy Waite, Doctor Senn and
myself dined with the Pan-American peacemaker, John
Barrett, and his secretary in their interesting bachelor
apartments near Plaza Central. Innumerable pictures
and mementoes gathered by Mr. Barrett during his
travels and while he was representing the United
States at the courts of the mighty, gave the place the
interest of a museum of art. We felt that we were
fortunate in having him devote an evening to us, for
he was one of the busiest men in Panama. But I have
learned in my dealings with North Americans that
the busiest men nearly always have more time for ex-
tra work than those who have not enough to do. A
successful, busy man seldom does as others do, and
Mr. Barrett did not do as the Panamanians did. The
words siesta, gossip and barroom were meaningless
to him. He paid no attention to the rule that one should
234 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
neither drink hard nor work hard in the tropics. His
motto was: "Work everywhere, drink nowhere." He
was such a hustler that grass did not grow under his
feet nor hair on his head. He had traveled extensive-
ly in the Orient. He had visited the five great vice-
roys of China and had sat upon the dais with the Em-
press Dowager and had talked her out of 700,000
taels. He arrived at Manila only ten days after Ad-
miral Dewey, and outstayed him. He became person-
ally acquainted with Aguinaldo and thus was more
successful than Dewey. The Sultan of Sulu offered
him a harem, but he was busy, and had to refuse.
While U. S. minister to Siam he accepted, however,
an invitation to address the graduating class of the
Young Ladies' Seminary of Bangkok, and told them
that they were charming young ladies, but soon would
be old cows with their tongues hanging out. He had
mistranslated his well-prepared English manuscript
and had mispronounced what he did not mistranslate.
He was excused on account of his youth and beauty,
and because he came from a new country where re-
fined speech and Oriental etiquette were not culti-
vated. He had also been minister to Argentina, but
he did not mention the breaches he had made there.
Possibly there was not time enough.
When General Huertas moved on Panama City
with an army of 300 men and began to dictate to Pres-
ident Amador, Mr. Barrett advised the president to
disband the hostile army. The president, to whom this
method of warfare was a novelty, humored the young
minister and told them to disband. But they refused.
PANAMA BAY AND PARAMOUNT BARRETT 235
He offered them sixty days' extra pay, half down
and half a week after they had disbanded, but they
demanded all of the money before disbanding. They
might serve without pay but they would not stop serv-
ing without pay. Mr. Barrett advised the president not
to heed this demand and made an eloquent speech that
brought them to terms. He told them that Uncle Sam
was back of President Amador. The soldiers were not
accustomed to this kind of warfare and disbanded. Af-
ter the army had disbanded, their guns were stored in
the American warehouse at Ancon and the defense of
the city and maintenance of order entrusted to the po-
lice, who performed after that the double duty of sol-
diers and policemen. And now, with no army except one
of words, the words of Uncle Sam, Doctor Amador is
secure in his position, and at last, "The path of glory
leads to the gray," as the poet Grave wrote.
Mr. Barrett's delicate private supper was such a re-
lief after the gorgeous banquets that we had been
working at, that we did not really require any atten-
tion from him. His servant was entertaining and re-
lieving us to our entire satisfaction. But the worry
and responsibilities of public office in an unsettled
and up-building foster-republic, and the fatigue of
constant activity, did not prevent him giving himself
up to our unrestrained enjoyment.
He gave us much information about Siam, where
he was known as "I am, I am, the great white minis-
ter at Siam." He said that the Sultan of Siam was
very intelligent and progressive, that he had many
wives but had decreed that his son and successor
236 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
should have but one, and thus had shown that he
possessed the courage of his convictions. Mr. Barrett
told us that he had seen Siamese babies smoking ci-
gars six inches long, and described a case in point.
He said that elephants were not weaned until they were
three years old, were not grown up until they were
twenty, and that their working days were from thirty-
three to sixty-six years. He said that elephants were
afraid of mice, and gave an instance in which a mouse
stampeded the royal herd, and it took six weeks to get
them back in line again. He told us that the white
elephant was pink, that the white was all in the white
of his eye.
He and the other foreign diplomats dined once a week
at the Emperor's table. Barrett's regular seat was be-
side the Empress-in-chief, and it fell to him to enter-
tain her. In due time ordinary subjects of conversa-
tion had been worn threadbare, and the Empress
helped him out by appointing a subject at each dinner
for conversation at the next, which enabled him to look
up his vocabulary and his ideas. On one occasion she
asked him to give her some ideas on ladies' hats. He
studied hats in the cyclopedia and dictionary during
the few stray moments of quiet and leisure he could
find, and came to the dinner feeling competent to
address the Empress in her own language on a femi-
nine subject. But while he was discoursing eloquently
about hats, and mingling Oriental compliments with
incidental wisdom, she suddenly burst out laughing
and kept on laughing until she burst some stays. The
Emperor then became intensely curious to learn how
PANAMA BAY AND PARAMOUNT BARRETT 237
the White Minister had done it. When finally the
lady had gotten through laughing she told him what
Mr. Barrett had said, viz.: "Your Majesty wears the
most beautiful busts of any empress or queen in the
Orient. Their originality of shape and harmony of
coloring have charmed many an artist." Mr. Barrett
laughed also, thinking that he had pleased the Em-
press, but later learned that he had used the word
bust in place of hat. However, he had not failed to
amuse the Empress, which was quite a distinction.
Apropos of hats, we asked him why he had not
married. He said that he preferred to be happy. His
political duties already called upon him to do many
things that he knew nothing about, but had not yet ex-
acted that. He preferred to be a bachelor, and, as
Doctor Waite expressed it, he shone better as a soli-
taire. He had read somewhere that wives talk in their
sleep. He could endure any kind of babel or babble
for eighteen hours a day, but not for twenty-four.
He had a little joke played upon him at his dinner
that was not premeditated. The waiter was a quick
and active man, as I suppose everybody about Mr.
Barrett must be, and served us rapidly and well. But
he got behind in his work and was hurried in serving
the dessert, and had allowed the water glasses to be-
come empty. He rushed out after water and in his
haste grabbed a couple of bottles of white wine in-
stead of White Rock water, and filled our tumblers
with it. Mr. Barrett was busy talking and did notice
the error. We were thirsty, and as the wine was very
mild and of excellent quality we gladly drank it like
238 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
water. I merely remarked that it was the best water
I had tasted in Panama. We were soon through eat-
ing, and just before arising Mr. Barrett somewhat
hastily took a large draught out of his tumbler. He
swallowed and cleared his throat and looked at us.
But as we said nothing, he said nothing, and he prob-
ably does not know to-day that we drank his best wine
like plain water.
After giving us another hour of instructive and
amusing conversation while sitting on the little Span-
ish balcony outside of the windows, he accompanied
us to the ball. Here were assembled the beauty and
talent of Panama. Preparations had been made for
a grand dance and an elaborate supper at many small
square, and a few tete-a-tete tables. We met nearly
everybody we had met before and many that we had
not, both Panamanians and North Americans. The
naval officers of the Battleship Boston also added eclat
to the occasion.
I had pleasant chats with our Chicago friends, Mr.
and Mrs. Wallace. They lived in a house owned by
the U. S. government not far from Plaza Central in
the crowded part of the city. But Mr. Wallace had
contrived to get out of the crowd to a certain , extent
by going upwards. He had built a sort of roof gar-
den or open-air story on the top of the house, and had
made other improvements that rendered it in comfort,
although not in kind, as nearly equal to our North
American homes as is consistent with the climate. He
was enthusiastic about his canal work and apparently
happy, and expecting to keep right on, although a
PANAMA BAY AND PARAMOUNT BARRETT 239
few months' residence in Panama is a great disillu-
sioner. Mrs. Wallace seemed cheerful and contented in
her new surroundings and apparently enjoyed great
popularity in society. Whether she would have been
able to stand the climate for ten or twelve years without
injury to her health, and whether he could have re-
tained sufficient vigor during such a long sweltering
period to prosecute the work, must have been a ques-
tion of some concern to him. It certainly would have
shortened the natural course of his life somewhat and
was not worth while unless there was something in it
for him besides money. Wealth is not his who gets it,
but his who enjoys it. He who gives a part and risks
all of his life, and sacrifices all of his comfort and en-
joyment of life, and does the work, deserves credit and
appreciation.
At the time of the reorganization of the Canal Com-
mission the newspapers of the country were talking
wildly about a hundred thousand dollar man with pow-
er and authority to build the canal and build it quickly.
They spoke of finding him, but left Mr. Wallace practi-
cally out of consideration. I do not doubt but this gave
Mr. Wallace an attack of dyspepsia and that he took
a gloomy view of things and saw himself at the end of
four or five years with his health shattered by strug-
gles with climatic and Congressional influences and
hindrances, and discarded by a forgetful and impa-
tient country. The country had already begun to go
back on his contract, and the understanding with him,
and I suppose he felt that he had the same right. If
it was a question of salary only, why earn it in Panama
240 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
where red heat and yellow fever were suggestive of
future rewards and quick realization? Twenty-five
or thirty thousand dollars is a small sum for digging
one's own grave and then not being allowed to occu-
py it. "To thine own self be true ; and . , ."
CHAPTER IV
Congress Redivivus
Visit to the Culebra Cut— Culebra Ridge—Trying to
Learn of Time of Departure of Boats — Yellow Fever
Causes Stampede — The Eastern Contingent Arrives and
Visits President Amador — All Is Lively Again — Last
Business Meeting that Was not the Last — The Great
Eastern Report — Another Meeting Voted — Wishing Well
of Panama.
On Friday morning the congresistas were taken to
the Culebra cut to learn how a little mountain could
be gnawed in two, and show how a big breakfast could
be swallowed. As I had heard all there was to be said
about the cut and had gone through it slowly and com-
fortably on an express train, I did not care to hurry
through it on foot under a hot sun ; for after all there
was more to be imagined than seen. As far as the
banquet was concerned there was more to be seen
than could be eaten, and my stomach needed rest,
not exercise. But the others had had more experience
and practice in eating than in fasting or dieting, and
naturally preferred doing what they could do best.
But I can not pass this part of my narrative without
indulging in a digression — not to my stomach, but
to the great Culebra* Mountain Ridge, Nature's pre-
"Culebra is the Spanish for serpent.
16
241
242 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
historic sea serpent, which had successfully stood the
test of earthquakes and volcanic action, and had held
the impatient oceans apart ever since it arose out of
the open sea and divided them. It was there when
Columbus discovered the continent, when Cortez
fought, Pizarro crossed and Morgan plundered. It
witnessed the moving of all the gold that glutted
Spain. It laughed at the engineering schemes of ex-
plorers. It snored at the pickaxes and shovels of
France. It balked the tricks of trusts, the greed of
commerce and the changes of time. It is left for U.
S. to conquer it. Let U. S. watch and pay. Let U. S.
smite the rock and start the water. Let U. S., the only
Americans, live up to our pretensions. The eyes of
the world are upon U. S. and the great Culebra, the
dreaming dragon of Panama snores and sings, "Lass
mich schlafen" Let U. S. be wiser than the serpent.
Let U. S. return with interest the gold that was car-
ried away by Spain, and our children shall conquer
the great Culebra.
I executed a little Chinese shopping after "coffee,"
and did considerable scouting, trying to learn some-
thing about the departure of boats from Colon for
New Orleans, but accomplished nothing definite. I
had written three days before to W. Andrews & Co.,
the agents at Colon, and had just received an indefi-
nite answer referring me to the Panama Estrella and
Herald, in which the arrivals would be announced.
This was quite unsatisfactory, for the time of depart-
CONGRESS REDIVIVUS 243
ure was never known until after the boats had ar-
rived. And as they always departed as soon as they
had unloaded, and the consignments to Colon were
frequently small, I might not have time to get there
after the notice had gone through the delays of being
printed at Panama nearly a hundred miles from the
port.
I ate my eleven o'clock breakfast in the usual way,
and afterward took my siesta in the usual way, and
attended the three o'clock scientific meeting in the
usual way, feeling much more fit for mental exertion
than if I had breakfasted and bibbed in the Culebra
cut. Papers on General Medicine were read and our
ignorance of life and death scientifically expounded.
Yellow fever rumors and mosquito stories had been
circulating since the evening before and the ladies
were becoming panicky and were clamoring to return
to Colon to be ready to catch the first ship for home.
Five fever patients and two suspects had been dis-
covered and taken to the hospital. Hence Doctor and
Mrs. Brower, Doctor Waite, Doctor Senn, Doctor and
Mrs. Crile, Doctor Newman, Doctor Frank and sev-
eral others did not hesitate to take the afternoon train
for Colon. I had no fear of yellow fever and malaria
since mosquitoes had corners on these markets and
had not bitten me, or at least had not succeeded in pen-
etrating through my skin. Panama mosquitoes are
small and have short stingers. Hence I concluded
that it was safe to wait until the next day, in order to
244 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
see and say goodbye to the fashionable Easterners
when they "passed first base on their home run."
About the time our afternoon session, which was the
last of the scientific ones, adjourned, the Eastern del-
egates arrived under the guidance of the faithful and
long-suffering President Icaza, who had been at
Colon waiting for them since the evening before.
Those of us who had remained accompanied the newly
arrived delegates to President Amador's second com-
plimentary reception, given in order that none of the
members might be slighted. Champagne was again
passed around and constituted the only refreshment
connected with the congress that the Easterners ar-
rived in time to enjoy. And that probably did not
come out of the $25,000 barrel. The Westerners had
done their duty.
At the hotel all was lively again, for the new arriv-
als more than replaced those who had departed, both
in numbers and animation. The closing business meet-
ing, scheduled for 8 P. M., was called to order at nine
in an immense scantily furnished corner room on the
second floor over the barroom. It was called the par-
lor. Ladies and guests were present, and the ma-
jority of the men were in evening dress. The army
medical officers were dressed in white duck suits
trimmed with heavy white braid on the front edges
of the jackets, on the shoulders, cuffs and outer seams
of the trouser legs. This white, fancy dress suit con-
stituted a tropical uniform of appropriate beauty and
CONGRESS REDIVIVUS 245
purity, and was worn on full-dress occasions by gov-
ernment officials. A formal speech was made by a del-
egate of each country represented, and finally the
Eastern contingent asked the privilege of making a
report. The favor was courteously granted.
Doctor MacDonald, of Greater New York, arose
and began his report. But the forgotten National
band was in attendance below in the patio and, think-
ing it their turn, started playing, "There'll Be a Hot
Time in the Old Town To-night," so that although
the doctor's lips moved vigorously and there was in-
telligence in his facial expression, no voice could be
heard. The secretary's smile vanished for a moment
as he rushed out on the veranda of the patio and waved
the well-meaning musical patriots, who had stuck to
the congress closer than friends, to silence. When or-
der was restored and smiles smoothed out, the speaker
began again.
"Mr. President! Members of the Fourth Pan-
American Medical Congress! Physicians of Panama!
Conquerors and possessors of this beautiful waist of
our glorious continent, of which the United States is
the bosom and Brazil the bustle!
"On behalf of those who, like Achilles, have been
beaten about by unpropitious winds ; on behalf of those
who were unfortunate enough to embark in an ancient
ship called the Athos, built by Greeks and navigated by
dagoes, and renamed by us the Pathos, I wish to give
greetings, and submit our report to the North Ameri-
246 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
can members, the Middle American members, and the
South American member.
"Our classic ship had chosen December 12, 1904, at
n A. M. to sail from Baltimore, and promised to
arrive at Colon the next year in time for us to be
here to breakfast with you at n A. M. But the ship
left one day late. It was bound for a Spanish country
where to-morrow is always in time, and where to-
morrow never arrives. And the jealous dagoes, not
to be outdone by rivals or arrivals on the old Spanish
main, added another to-morrow, and another, know-
ing that they had only doctors to deal with.
"And we, like good Samaritans and average physi-
cians, allowed them to do as they pleased, viz., to start
late and put us in a special ship that has not been
seaworthy since the birth of Christ, and is good only
for doctors who are supposed to delight in resuscitat-
ing one another when shipwrecked. And when we
awoke on the day we were to arrive for breakfast we,
to our surprise, discovered that we were three days
from our destination. We consulted, we agreed, but
we found no remedy. We had no firearms about our
persons, and only firewater at our disposal. We had
lances and poisons and corkscrews with us, but could
only kill time. And so we allowed the dagoes to live
to bring us here.
"This, ladies and gentlemen, is our excuse which
must, on account of the importance of our mission,
go on our records as a matter of history and hysteria,
for we had members of both sexes among us.
CONGRESS REDIVIVUS 247
"But we are here, and desire to thank you for wait-
ing for us, for delaying President Amador's recep-
tion until this afternoon, and the opening exercises
until this evening. We are glad to come in time to
assist you in honoring and emptying the $25,000 bar-
rel.*
*The following newspaper clipping deserves to be pre-
served as a part of the subsequent history of this remarkable
boat:
FACE DANGERS OF OCEAN.
VACATION PARTY»IN PERIL.
STEAMER ATHOS ARRIVES OFF SCOTLAND LIGHT-SHIP WITH
A TALE OF WOE AND A LOT OF SICK AND
HUNGRY PASSENGERS.
"NEW YORK, Aug. 22. — The steamer Athos, seventeen
days late, with eight passengers, a cargo of rotten bananas
and the bones of half-eaten sharks on board, arrived off
Scotland light-ship late last night.
"July 30 the Donald Steamship Company's steamer Athos
left Port Antonio, Jamaica, for New York, a six day's voyage,
with provisions in plenty for this short period. Three hours
out of port an eccentric rod on the engine broke, and from
that hour until last Sunday, proceeding sometimes only an
hour a day under her own steam, the Athos drifted at the
mercy of storms, in constant danger of famine, once without
drinking water, and receiving supplies from time to time from
passing vessels, until the disabled steamer gave up Aug. 20
and signaled the Altai for a tow. This steamer brought the
Athos to New York.
"The trouble was in the engine all the time. From July
30 to Aug. 7 one to two breaks daily were recorded. The
log chronicles the fact that the daily delay was only thirty
minutes long Aug. 5. Two days later the catching of the
sharks is recorded. Chinamen on board attempted to eat
the sharks, but the meat made them ill and the fish were
248 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
One of the congresistas arose to a point of order
and informed the ancient orator of the Athos that we
were celebrating the closing session, that the meet-
ings had been held, the contributions discussed and
the contents of the barrel dissipated.
MacDonald of Athos looked enquiringly at Icaza
of Panama who, understanding neither English nor
Athos when spoken so fluently, smiled politely and
said nothing, while the band taking advantage of a
moment of silence, played enthusiastically and loudly.
"Mr. President," he began again, when the band had
thrown into the sea During the next two days boats were
lowered from the Athos in search of food fish.
"BANANAS TAINT WATER."
"Aug. 8 the disabled steamer sighted the steamship Adiron-
dack and signaled 'All well on board,' but Aug. 10 the last
tank of water was opened and was found to be tainted with
the juice of rotting bananas. Some dolphin were caught two
days later, and Aug. 13 the incipient famine was relieved by
the steamer Montevideo, which supplied provisions.
"Between Aug. 10 and 17 the engine's shaft was useless,
and not only was the steamer forced to drift about while
repairs were under way, but for two days of this period a
great storm and high seas broke over the helpless steamship.
The log meanwhile indicates that more dolphin were caught.
Aug. 18 the coupling flange broke and the Athos abandoned
the attempt to make New York under her own steam, after
twenty days of repeated accidents. It was decided to accept
the first offer of a tow. This did not come for two days,
during which a second famine was averted by the -steamer
Vera, which came alongside the Athos, supplying food and
drink.
"Worse even than the danger of famine and of thirst, the
passengers say, was the odor of the decaying banana cargo.
"At Scotland light-ship last night the tow line broke as
a last chapter in her long series of accidents, and the Athos
could not repair the broken line in the dark, but anchored
for the night, while the Altai brought her passengers to quar-
antine. To-day tugs were sent out to bring the Athos into
port."
CONGRESS REDIVIVUS 249
done its duty, "I am glad there is a congresista left
to tell the tale. I understand that the previous delib-
erations of the congress have been carried on by a
minority (since the majority were in the Athos, now
the Pathos, holding majority meetings) and are there-
fore void. If they are not void, I move that they be
voided, and that the congress begin over again."
The secretary ventured to say that such was an im-
possibility since there was nothing left of the $25,000
barrel but a barrel of beer, a hundred bottles of
White Rock, a can of evaporated cream, and half a
bottle of Mountain Dew.
"Then I withdraw my motion," said the speaker,
"and move that all of the meetings held on the Athos,
and afterward on the Pathos, be reported in full to
the secretary, and be constituted a part of the transac-
tions of the Fourth Pan-American Medical Congress.
The South American delegate arose and spoke
against the motion as being irregular and unparlia-
mentary, and would establish a bad precedent. He
wished to place the vote of the entire continent of
South America on record against it.
Doctor MacDonald replied, saying that he spoke
for North America. He was from Greater New
York, in which lived one out of every twenty-one per-
sons of the United States ; the others lived out of town.
Therefore, in behalf of those he represented, he felt
it his duty to insist upon the motion. It would en-
able the Athosnians or Pathosnians (whichever name
might in the future prevail) to hold another closing
scientific session manana for the presentation of the
Pathos proceedings, and to leave immediately after-
250 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
ward so as to reach Havana on the last day of the
meeting of the Pan-American Public Health Asso-
ciation— and be able to do the same thing there. Mac-
Donald was a born leader, and conducted himself
more like a man accustomed to dictate terms at the
head of a nation rather than at the head of a bed.
The president listened with rapt attention and, not
understanding the New York dialect, smiled politely
in approval. Thereupon the secretary put the motion
and the Pathosnians, being in the majority, carried it.
The secretary explained the situation to the presi-
dent, who smiled and nodded, but whether 'twas with
pleasure, displeasure or in sarcasm, no one knew. A
motion to adjourn to meet at 8 A. M. the next morn-
ing prevailed. The band then played Mendels-
sohn's "Wedding March" and the meeting broke up
brilliantly.
What transpired at the business meeting the next
morning at 8 A. M., I do not know, for I took the train
for Colon at seven, fearing to delay any longer lest
in the meantime a ship might arrive and set sail with
my Chicago friends.
I was treated well by the Panamanians right up to
the end, and will always retain a kind feeling for them
and their gentlemanly doctors. I hope that Panama
will apply for statehood in the United States in the near
future. We like the Panamanians, and wish to take
them into our family and share with them our pros-
perity, our affections and their afflictions. Colombians
are apt to distrust us and believe that we have captured
Panama, but they are mistaken. Panama has captured
us and our money, and we forgive them.
CHAPTER V
To See Ourselves as Others See Us
Comparisons — Our Countrymen Refined in Feeling but often
Inconsiderate in Conduct — Instances of the Latter Qual-
ity— Thoughtlessness and Indifference in Public — Gour-
mands— Three Varieties — The Young or Simple Gour-
mand— The Acquired or Temperamental Gourmand —
The Specialized or Calculating Gourmand — Dangers of
Gourmandizing — Evading the Results.
To be or not to be polite, that is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous manners,
As the courteous Spaniard does before U. S.,
Or to take up arms against a sea of courtesy
And, by opposing, end it? — To smile — to — bow
No more; — and by such conduct end
The inconvenience and the thousand amenities
Politeness calls for — etc.
During the ride back to Colon on Saturday morn-
ing, instead of admiring the scenery I fell into a sort
of saturnine revery appropriate to the winding up of a
medico-social congress in a country in which hos-
pitality and its time-honored formalities had not yet
suffered deterioration. I had associated during my
first week in Panama with Spanish Americans and
cabmen, and during the second week with my own
countrymen and, being in the proper mood, could not
252 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
help making comparisons. The Spanish Americans
and cabmen had been polite and courteous, while the
manners of some of the no less worthy North Ameri-
cans had been as unpolished as their boots.
We have plenty of money as compared with these
poor Panamanians, and we know it; everybody knows
it. We enjoy spending it freely entertaining and
"treating'' friends and acquaintances, or in doing them
favors, yet we are apt to be exacting and business-
like in our casual relations with strangers whose in-
terests conflict with ours or who do not awaken our
sympathies. We generally know what ordinary po-
liteness demands of us, and practise it upon special
occasions when we are on our behavior, but we are
too natural to cultivate politeness for its own sake.
Society manners have for us a savor of insincerity,
and we so often neglect to assume its conventional
forms that we finally forget to do so and become im-
polite by habit. In crowds we push ahead, fail to
give others their rights and commit all sorts of petty
improprieties. In registering at a hotel or buying a
ticket or choosing a seat in a public place, we are apt
to take advantage of those who politely take their
turn, unless we are reminded that we must not tres-
pass, when we may feel ashamed and subside. In
Paris one is knocked down or put out for such behav-
ior. Hence, Parisians are polite.
At Hotel Central a copy of the daily newspaper
was placed in the office for reference in looking up
announcements and news items, and was kept careful-
ly folded at one end of the counter, against an ele-
TO SEE OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US 253
vated case, to show that it was not a stray paper.
When the members of the congress arrived it soon
disappeared. A Westerner, who probably wished to
save his nickel and did not think of anything else,
came out of the dining-room after breakfast, saw it,
took it up, carried it to the front door, seated him-
self and read it for twenty minutes. He then put it
under him and sat on it. He might at least have re-
turned the paper for which he had not paid to its
place. He would still have saved his nickel. Prob-
ably he knew better than he did, but had acquired the
habit of not stopping to think, and anyway didn't care
Adam.
Another instance of thoughtless conduct was that
of a very prominent, distinguished-looking physician
whom I found sitting at my table one evening when
I came to dinner. He was waiting to be served, and
sat there with both elbows on the table, gazing dream-
ily at the ceiling and nibbling at a crust of bread which
he held in both hands. He was probably tired — too
tired, or perhaps too indifferent, to remember his table
manners. Besides there was no one else at the table,
and those about him at the other tables were all stran-
gers; and what did he care for them, so his elbows
were rested and his hunger relieved.
American travelers will gladly pay a good price
for a good meal or a good room, yet will often sneak
out of feeing the waiter or porter, when they know
it is the custom to give small fees. It may be wrong
to fee waiters, but the Bible says there is a time
for everything.
254 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
I am sorry to say that a member of the Pan-Ameri-
can Medical Congress was guilty of rudeness toward
the lovable, ever-smiling secretary, Doctor Calvo. The
member refused to pay the full registration fee of ten
dollars in gold because a friend who had been to the
congress when it met in Mexico, had told him that he
only paid five dollars in gold. Doctor Calvo looked
at him with that pleasant, meek smile of his, shrugged
his shoulders, showed him the printed rules calling for
ten dollars in gold, and said, "Ah! In Mexico! Your
friend make it go dere, but / can not make it go here,"
and kept on smiling. A North American official
would neither have joked nor smiled, nor have exhibit-
ed such politeness — a politeness that did credit to the
little secretary, and certainly seemed preferable to
our sincere but abrupt U. S. method of dealing with
such customers. When the objector had left without
registering, Doctor Calvo, with a scintillating smile,
whispered in my ear the Spanish proverb, "Long
journey, long lies."
This out-and-out, straightforward, honest North
American only wanted his rights, and did not stop or
care to consider that politeness made it obligatory,
and that a finer feeling would have made it a pleasure,
to pay even double dues to the half dozen physicians
of the smallest and poorest republic on the continent
who were straining themselves to entertain a crowd of
physicians from the largest and richest republic in the
world, and who would be responsible to the printer
for the cost of the transactions. He did not refuse,
however, to partake of his share of the $25,000 appro-
TO SEE OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US 255
priated by their government for our entertainment.
A Spaniard under similar circumstances might have
felt imposed upon, but he would have smiled and paid
— which is politeness. "He who sows courtesy reaps
friendship," is another Spanish proverb. But the hon-
est, home-made doctor could not appreciate foreign-
manners and methods, and remarked to a friend, on
another occasion, that those Spanish fellows were too
blamed polite for him. They reminded him of Josh
Billings' geese who lowered their heads while going
through a barn doorway eighteen feet high. But that
sort of doctors are gradually dying off. Better be
such a goose than such a doctor.
I do not know whether I ought to say anything
about our American gourmands or not. Gourmands
are indigenous to all countries but there are certain
species in this country that are more or less character-
istic. In foreign nations, as everywhere, the healthy
child is always a gourmand, but he is usually taught
table manners quite early unless he belongs to the
lower classes, where caste immures him, and where
polished manners do not form a part of politeness.
But in this country so many men whose parents were
uncultured or negligent in their parental duties, are
successful in obtaining the means with which to live
well and travel, that the American gourmand is met
everywhere. When you see him eat, you know what
he is, no matter where he is or what he eats. His
palate and purse are not in the same class. He car-
ries cowboy manners among cultivated people, adver-
tising abroad the American brand of "Liberty, equal-
ity and fraternity."
256 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
I will mention three concrete cases: one, of the
youthful starved gourmand; another, of the mature,
temperamental variety, the gourmet; and another, the
deliberate, systematic complete gourmand.
The young gourmand first attracted my attention
by his pale complexion, sunken cheeks and spindle
legs. I diagnosed consumption at first sight, but was
only half right. His sunken uneasy eye suggested
starvation. In our conversation which inevitably
turned to eating and drinking, he said that he did not
see how people could eat too much, and that he never
injured himself eating — he did not live to eat. I nat-
urally inferred that he really was in need of a little
gourmandizing.
I watched him at dinner. He was the first at table
and as I came in he sat there eating olives and flirting
with wild-eyed impatience, first with one dish, then
with another. When soup was served he stretched
out his arm to assist the waiter in putting it down, as if
afraid that a drop might be spilled; and immediately
bowed down his head over it and "done his level best."
He had finished it by the time the others were fairly
started. He then reached for the chow-chow, put a
few pieces on his bread-plate, ate them quickly and
sat glancing at the hors-d'oeuvres that were out of his
reach. He spoke to no one, but sat leaning slightly
forward like a panther ready to spring at meat or
whatever might come within his reach. Pretty soon
he asked his neighbor to pass him the radishes, and
put a few on his plate. Finishing these, he asked for
the olives. He was very quiet, and perhaps no one but
TO SEE OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US 257
myself, who sat opposite to him, noticed his famine.
When the meats began to come, his head went up and
his nose was leveled at it like a pointer dog's. He
did not, however, eat very much of the meat or veg-
etables, but took a large quantity of jelly with it, and
afterward more jelly. When the dessert came he
helped himself liberally, ate it rapidly and looked at
the plates of the others as if he wanted more. While
they were eating theirs leisurely and conversing, he
handed his plate to the waiter and asked for a clean
one. As soon as he got it he reached across the table
for an orange and ate it, then an apple, then some
raisins. While the others were finishing he sat and
watched their plates, first looking longingly at one
and then at another, thus tantalizing himself until the
last person had left the table. Then as he got up he
put an apple and an orange in his pocket. The dinner
seemed to be an hour of anxiety and longing rather
than an hour of rest and enjoyment. Two hours later
he was eating an apple on deck, when his friend, upon
noticing it, said, "I declare, you eat about every five
minutes in the day."
I suppose that this stuffed gourmand, this food -con-
sumptive, this sweetmeat starveling, this hors
d'oeuvre horror, really thought that he did not eat
much because he did not believe in eating much hearty
food and that hors d'oeuvres, sweets and fruit did not
count heavily as food, and that he could eat them all
of the time without injury to himself. It is true that
there is not a large proportion of food value in most
of our Northern fruits nor much proportionate diges-
17
258 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
tion required, but there is often a great deal of indi-
gestion to them. The amount of stomach space and
absorption required to accommodate the constant in-
flux of the mass of fruits and sweetmeats he ate would
have enabled him to appropriate enough meat and
bread and butter to fill out the sockets in his eyes, the
cups in his cheeks and the bows in his thighs, and con-
vert his restive panther expression to that of a sleek,
mild-eyed pussy cat.
The mature, temperamental gourmand is a square
trotter with a record. He goes straight for the goal
and beats the field. He is talkative and good-natured,
and not only enjoys good food but enjoys himself and
his surroundings while eating. He is greedy from
selfishness and a desire to get all there is out of a
meal, rather than greedy from any unnatural craving
for food. He has the best he can afford. He fees the
waiter and gets served first and well, to the disadvan-
tage of others who depend upon the same waiter and
always have to wait; he makes waiters of us all. He
is frank and open in his conduct and unconscious of
inconveniencing others. He is apt to be a good man-
ager, and enjoys his success in getting the best of the
meal, and supposes that others are also looking out
for number one. He has the touch of nature that
makes the whole world kin, for we all love the best
to eat, and Christian charity should lead us to enjoy
seeing others get it.
The third kind, the many-sided, systematic gour-
mand, has not the wild greed of the panther nor the
competitive go of the race-horse; he is more like the
TO SEE OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US 259
domestic animal. He adapts himself to his surround-
ings, and watches for chances. You may eat with him
once and notice nothing, for he knows he eats as he
ought not, and may dissemble and restrain himself in
company. But among intimate friends or among en-
tire strangers he indulges himself more or less covert-
ly. When he sits down at table he soon begins to help
himself to such hors d'oeuvres as are near. He talks
a little when not daft after some dish; but if maneu-
vering for something, answers questions absent-
mindedly, although he may start up and answer more
in detail after having obtained what he was after. If
the soup is good he eats it quickly, and if he can catch
the waiter's eye he may, without attracting attention,
get another plate of it. Between courses he keeps
himself busy eating of the dainties within reach, or
quietly asks his neighbor to pass what is out of his
reach. His jaws work constantly and contentedly. If
anything is passed he takes some and eats it immedi-
ately, and is ready for more, should it be passed back
to its place. He is a master of opportunity. If a
friend has wine or other delicacy and offers it to him
he invariably accepts and takes a liberal quantity, and
will usually accept a second time although with a half-
expressed excuse for taking it. Or, if his neighbor
does not offer it he will delicately hint for it by ques-
tioning or by praising it, and when it is offered say,
"Just a taste, to see what it is like," and will help
himself liberally. He eats steadily and cares but little
for conversation until there is an interval when noth-
ing is being passed or can be reached or be asked for,
260 THE PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS
or until the dessert is served and there is nothing more
to be had, when he becomes quite congenial. He is
not a suborner of the morals and manners of waiters.
He is stingy out of selfishness and smallness, and usual-
ly obtains what he wants without recourse to tipping.
Nature is kind to him in not killing him outright.
As a rule, she has arranged our systems so that the
excesses partly correct themselves. The superfluous
food acts mechanically to evacuate itself from the sys-
tem and may for a time act less harmfully than would
a constant moderate excess. But Nature is consistent.
Appendicitis and gallstones lie in wait for him ; ulcera-
tion and cancer of the stomach, diabetes, Bright's dis-
ease, rheumatism, gout, asthma, dropsy, apoplexy, etc.,
are at the other end of his path, and if one of them does
not attack him soon, another will later. The danger of
living lies in eating. To die of one of these diseases,
or to require an operation for appendicitis or gall-
stones ought to make the victim ashamed of himself.
I have not wasted words on our ordinary, every-
day business gourmand, the one who dines at home
or in a boarding-house, and lunches at restaurants,
and goes but little into what is called society. He is
a hard worker, perhaps a hustler. He is a necessary
evil and is tolerable until he eats, which he does as an
automobile travels. He takes large bites in rapid
succession, fingers his food to help make schedule time
and talks with his mouth full, if he is a talker. He is
too numerous to mention and too common to require
a description.
TO SEE OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US 261
These may not be representative types, but they rep-
resent actual observations and they abound. They
may not be peculiarly American but they were Ameri-
cans. They are somewhat different from European
gourmands I have seen. The higher the grade of
civilization the less pronounced the types. Each coun-
try, in fact, has its own varieties, and they are found
everywhere except at the poles. Yet even in the Arc-
tic regions travelers are apt to be great gourmands,
although seldom gourmets. They have been known
to eat everything in sight, from hair oil to shoe polish,
from old shoes to dish cloths, and boast of it afterward
— if they survived it.
PART III
BACK
PART III
CHAPTER I
Accommodations at Colon
Arrival — Queer Methods of the Manager of Washington
Hotel — Driving People Away — The Astor Hotel and the
Swiss Hotel — The Town Noises — Advantages of the Wash-
ington Hotel — Reason for the Peculiar Treatment — The
Veranda and the Breeze — A Delightful Room to Sleep
in — A Healthy Situation at Last — The Shower Bath and
"Next" — A Bald-headed Dude in a Three-bedded Room
— The Meals — No More Siestas Needed — Gathering Cocoa-
nuts and Throwing Them into the Sea — A Fine Place for
Useless Windmills — A Doctor Goes Hunting — A Tropical
Shower and a Glorious Morning.
The remainder of the Western contingent, includ-
ing myself, arrived at Colon about 10 A. M. on Satur-
day, January 7th, and went to the Washington Hotel.
As usual the manager had no vacant beds. A guest
arriving in the morning would find him busy with his
little grocery store that adjoined the hotel office, and
could not ascertain whether any vacancies would oc-
cur before night or not. If a guest arrived in the af-
ternoon the places had been given to those who had
arrived in the morning. I knew this and waited until
265
266 BACK
the manager could give me more definite information.
Doctor and Mrs. Crile and Doctor and Mrs. Palmer,
however, were square-dealing and plain-speaking
North Americans, and took him at his word when
he shrugged his Italian shoulders and said in French
that he had no empty beds or rooms. They went to
the Astor Hotel where Doctor and Mrs. Brower were
stopping and which was located near the center of the
town, one short block from the main street and main
noises. They said that the food was quite satisfactory
after it had been supplemented by the fruit laid in by
them and which could always be obtained at the public
market. Doctor Brower and his followers seemed to
think that in Colon man could live by fruit alone, but
many of us felt that we could live by water alone ; and
thus we were divided into two camps, one near the
market and the other near the sea. A few West-
erners who had no patience with the foreign
diplomacy of the Washington Hotel manager found
good rooms and eatable food at the Swiss Hotel,
which was located on the main business thoroughfare
called Front Street. There it was noisy within as well
as without, for the building was a wooden shell that
conveyed the indoor sounds from hall to hall and room
to room until the last guest was in bed. A merry-go-
round with its shrill music marred the early evening,
the carousing public disturbed the late evening and
the switch engines and freight trains puffed and rat-
tled all night along the main street in a way that sug-
gested insomnia. As the town was only three streets
wide and the third street was on stilts over stagnant
SQUARE IN COLOX
Showing Tent of the Merry-go-round
ACCOMMODATIONS AT COLON 267
water and inhabited only by negroes, it was impossible
to get far away from the noises and noisomeness. Be-
sides, the sea breeze did not blow through the town as
it blew at the Washington, and the rooms were so hot
that refreshing sleep was impossible, even when the din
subsided for a few moments.
The Washington Hotel was, in fact, the only one
in which one could live without suffering in health
from the heat, noises and inconveniences. It was not
a good hotel, but it had three features that rendered
it attractive, viz., its name, a bath-house and a sea
breeze. The reason for the difficulty in obtaining lodg-
ing was that it belonged to the Panama railway and
was leased to the manager rent free, with the proviso
that he was to be ready at all times to take care of
any of the railroad employees that might be sent there.
This made it necessary for him to wait until late in the
day before filling all of his rooms. His foreign di-
plomacy that repelled the doctors was dictated by
American business methods.
While I was waiting, Doctors Frank and Newman
invited me to camp with them for a few hours or
days until I could get a bed elsewhere. I accepted,
and found them located in the same old three-bedded,
one-sided, breezeless bunking-place in the wing of
the building, that had driven me away two weeks be-
fore. It was a sort of room-like receptacle used for
late comers. The third bed was occupied by a stran-
ger, and the place was so full of the belongings of
the three occupants that there was not even space
for me to sleep on the floor.
268 BACK
After piling my things behind the door and under
the table I went to the combination sitting-room,
writing-room and barroom. This was about twenty
feet square and the only place to sit in unless
we except the barber's den, which was about ten feet
square, and the hotel office, which was of the same
size but more than half filled by a large flat desk. The
hotel conveniences were practically all out-of-doors,
and every one sat on the lower veranda, where the
steady sea breeze blew as if from a thousand electric
fans. The veranda was worth forty parlors and sit-
ting-rooms, and no one complained.
I waited patiently until the hotel-keeper had taken
the indispensable siesta, and was rewarded by getting
a bed in a double room on the second or upper floor.
It had a door and window facing the sea to let the
breeze in, and another door and window on the oppo-
site side to let the breeze out, and covered verandas
on both sides. By keeping the windows and doors
open a veritable gale could be kept blowing through
the room and over the beds day and night, thus mak-
ing sleep not only possible, but delightful and refresh-
ing. It was like being blown into the temperate zone,
like going home for the night; and I felt -that with
this room and the lower veranda I could remain at
Colon a month with great benefit to my health, instead
of daily losing ground as those who were staying at the
other hotels certainly would.
Although the bath-house was accessible from the
ground floor only, we had a shower bath on our floor
that was very convenient and very popular. Every
WASHINGTON HOTEL, STREET FRONT, COLON
Behind the lower sign a short passageway leading
through to the water front
ACCOMMODATIONS AT COLON 269
morning soon after daybreak and every evening be-
fore retiring, the guests put on bath-robes or over-
coats, whichever they happened to possess, stole along
the veranda to the shower room and had a refreshing
time under the shower. The water which was rain-
water, was not cold enough to be chilly and could
be enjoyed for an almost indefinite time, or until one
was obliged to give place to "next."
As a roommate I had Doctor Morrow of San Fran-
cisco, a genial young man of wholesale proportions,
who had a ready laugh and knew a thing or two
about bubonic plague, leprosy and other interesting
curiosities. I was more than satisfied.
But not so Doctor Frank. The stranger who shared
the hot air of the one-sided, three-bedded room with
him and Doctor Newman, was a bachelor and a dude
who filled the place with toilet articles and perfumes,
and spent most of his time undressing and dressing.
His best and most constant, possibly his only, friend
was the looking-glass. Doctor Frank pointed him
out to me in the afternoon as he came sauntering
along the walk in front of the veranda: an immacu-
lately dressed, red-whiskered, delicate-skinned dandy
who had polished the hair off the top of his head and
was proud of the incandescent horseshoe fringe that
connected his beard with the back of his head. As he
sauntered along beaming with self-satisfaction and
shining with bare-headed brightness, we gazed at
him; and he seemed to think that we were admiring
him, and was apparently not displeased. Moral: Be
vain and you will be happy. — Vanity had at least made
270 BACK
something out of him. Those who have no vanity
live in darkness, undiscovered and unappreciated.
I did not feel compelled to take siestas here and
preferred to stroll about along the breezy beach hunting
shells, or sitting on the veranda smoking and talking
with Doctors Waite, Senn, Newman, Frank and Mor-
row, and with others who came to visit us from the
other camp.
While we were there the negroes gathered the cocoa-
nuts and trimmed the cocoa palms that fringed the
beach. This was a very interesting sight. A bare-
footed negro would put a hatchet in his belt, catch
hold of a tree trunk with his hands and rapidly walk
up the tree just as a man with spikes fastened on
his ankles walks up a telegraph pole, except that he
used his bare toes with which to cling to the corru-
gated bark. A monkey could not have done better,
nor looked better. The cocoa palm that grows on the
seashore, although tall, is always slender and some-
what inclined, and is thus favorable for climbing. Nev-
ertheless the climber must have the great strength of
his remote ancestors in his toes, as well as a steady
head, to climb so high in that way. Upon arriving
at the top he chops off the branches that bear nuts
and then trims the tree by removing those that hang
downward. In less than ten minutes he is down and
toes up the next tree. When all trees were trimmed,
the negroes cut off the end of several of the cocoa-
nuts, drank the milk and threw them into the sea.
Most of the nuts, however, were left lying around,
for nobody seemed to want them.
PATH LEADING ACROSS THE LAWN FROM
WASHINGTON HOTEL TO THE BEACH
Showing One of the Cocoa Palms that Bordered
ACCOMMODATIONS AT COLON 271
What a place this would be for a row of windmills
to be kept going by this steady Seabreeze! I won-
dered why I had not seen any windmills in Panama.
But the negroes did not seem to have much to do but
gather cocoanuts and drink the milk and be fanned
by the breezes; and as windmills can neither gather
the cocoanuts nor drink the milk they would be quite
useless and superfluous. Perhaps as the years pass
on the canal will be finished and the 20,000 laborers
and the high-salaried employees be discharged and the
stores that feed, clothe and saloon them be closed;
and it may then become necessary to work the land
and develop the industries and build windmills and
factories. But that time is a long way off. Millions
of dollars must find their way to Panama, and thou-
sands of deaths be died while windmills wait. Neither
windmills nor factories are tropical institutions.
On Sunday morning Doctor Morrow stumbled audi-
bly out of bed at five o'clock and went hunting up the
river. But he came back safe and sound in the after-
noon, without having gotten anything but plenty of
exercise and a few pounds of alligator mud upon his
clothes. Not being deaf, I was wide awake when he
left, and embraced the opportunity to take an early
shower bath and thus turned annoyance into pleasure.
Returning from the bath I witnessed the shower bath
he was caught in, and wondered if it looked as beauti-
ful to him in the swamps as it did to me on the covered
veranda. It was a tremendous, I might say terrific,
downpour of water. It darkened the heavens and last-
ed about twenty minutes, administering the greatest
272 BACK
Colonic flushing on record. It started suddenly, soon
after sunrise, and when it began to pass off the sun
shone through it with great brilliancy, developing a
heaven full of aurora tints which turned rapidly into
deep blue and finally brightened into a glorious, cooled-
off, tropical morning.
CHAPTER II
Sunday at Colon
Col6n's Architecture — Trying to Procure Information about
Ships — The Brighton and the Preston — Had to Give It
up—The Cab Ride on the Beach— The Canal Zone— Pictur-
esque Christobal — Cool Breezes — Statue of Columbus —
The Entrance to the Canal — Railroad Company's Hospital
— The Turtle Trap — The Bath — The Ladies — The Shark
— The Retreat — The Embarrassment — Uncertainty about
the Departure of Boats — Crowding a Small Boat —
Mistakes and Discomforts — An Unsatisfactory Explana-
tion— Rozhestzensky — Laying in Private Provisions—-
Off Late — Rough Weather — Bocas del Toro — Almirante
Bay and Chiriqui Lagoon — Bocas del Drago and Bocas del
Tigre — Proposed Naval Station — The Town and Its
Doctors— Plenty of Fruit.
Colon has one piece of architecture, viz., a church,
a more or less Protestant one, the Church of Eng-
land. There is nothing else like it in Colon, which is
a city of saloons, not of churches. It stands alone
and lonely on the seashore across the street, from the
Washington Hotel annex or wing, and is thus as far
away from the bad people in the town as possible.
The congregation is made up largely of Jamaica ne-
groes. I do not remember seeing any other churches
in this town, nor any church ruins, although eccle-
siastically considered, the whole town was a ruin.
Sunday morning I called at the United Fruit Corn-
is 273
274 BACK
pany's agency and learned that the Brighton, a re-
. christened Norwegian steamship with a Norwegian
crew, and said to be the smallest boat on the route,
would sail Monday; and that the Preston, a larger
boat, would arrive Monday and probably sail Tuesday
or Wednesday according to the amount of unload-
ing to be done. I went to the wharf and looked at the
Brighton and gave her up. To be shaken up in her for
a week, like shot in a bottle, would be almost sure
death. She had one small room amidships to be
used as a combination salon, dining-room and smok-
ing-room, and eight little cabins near the stern, which
opened into a narrow passageway about thirty feet
long and three feet wide. The cabins had no place
for steamer trunks under the berths, and hardly room
enough for two persons to stand side by side on the
floor. They were originally intended for the officers
of the crew, inasmuch as the ship was not built for
passenger service. The space over them was used
as a passenger deck, and was about thirty feet by
fifteen between the life boats, with the center taken
up by a skylight. As the deck was uncovered and
unprotected at the sides, there was no place on the
boat for the passengers to go to in bad weather except
to bed, or to the little dining-room which was pretty
well filled by the table. So I returned to the hotel,
having gained nothing but an appetite. I would have
to wait for the Preston.
After the eleven o'clock breakfast Doctors Frank,
Newman and I sat on the veranda and gazed at the
sea and smoked and talked small talk, and thus man-
CHRIST CHURCH AT COLON
Seen from a Corner of the Hotel
SUNDAY AT COLON 275
aged to kill time and keep cool until three o'clock.
Then we hired a Jamaica negro, with a cab that had
seen better days, to drive us everywhere, viz., to the
mouth of the canal and then along the seashore in the
opposite direction as far as the road went, where we
were to have a salt-water swim.
We drove through the main street to the Canal
Zone at the other end of the town. Here the beach
curved out seaward to form a projecting area or
tongue of land shaded by a grove of tall cocoa palms
which gave it a very picturesque appearance. As we
entered the grove we saw large and comparatively
elegant-looking frame houses and a Catholic church,
all of which Mons. De Lesseps had built, at great ex-
pense, for himself and his high-salaried officials and
their employees. The settlement was called Chris-
tobal, after the discoverer of America, and occupied
a most charming and salubrious spot. Like the beach
of the Washington Hotel, it was fanned by the pre-
vailing winds and, like it, was apparently much more
breezy and much cooler than the intervening town.
We drove through the palm grove, past the well-
preserved houses, to the other side of the little penin-
sula where the canal opened into Limon Bay. A
statue of Columbus that had been presented to the
country by the Empress Eugenie twenty years be-
fore, stood on a clear plat of ground near the shore
in the attitude of watching or guarding the boca or
mouth of the canal. We left the cab and sauntered
a short distance along the shore of the bay to the
boca, finding the way strewn with fragments of
276 BACK
crockery, tin cans and debris of all kinds, and ob-
structed by old car trucks and parts of machinery. The
canal here looked like a river or bayou extending
through flat, alluvial land. The bay is now a part of
the open sea, but when the United States has invest-
ed a few hundred thousand dollars in a breakwater
it will be converted into a magnificent, protected har-
bor.
We returned to the Washington Hotel and had a
cool, pleasant drive for a couple of miles along the
shores in the opposite direction. A drive on a tropical
beach is always a treat. Although the road may not
be well kept it is usually hard and dry, the sea air
exhilarating and the luxuriant foliage alluring. We
passed the Railroad Company's Hospital, a small
frame building standing on posts over the water's
edge, which was said to accommodate over one hun-
dred patients, but did not look that capacious. I was
told that it was poorly supplied with materials and
facilities, although this difficulty has, of course, been
remedied now that Uncle Sam has finally become in-
terested in tropical hygiene. After seeing the surviv-
ing evidence of the French sanitary work as shown in
the Ancon Hospital, the sanitarium on Toboga Island
and the construction of Christobal, it occurred to me
that the French had given much attention to sanita-
tion as it was then understood, and had spent much
money upon it, while the United States was not even
providing sufficient medicine. Our legislators were
waiting for more deaths and the application of the
big stick before conferring independent authority
SUNDAY AT COLON 277
upon the doctors. The American citizen is intelli-
gent in all things but health and disease. But he
makes up in opinion what he lacks in knowledge. It
is for him to decide when doctors are right and when
wrong, and which are right and which wrong.
The road terminated abruptly at the entrance of a
small shallow bay. Here we alighted and walked a
few hundred yards along the edge of tangled woods
to a little palm grove where the shore made an ab-
rupt turn. About a hundred feet out from the water's
edge a circular empalement twenty feet in diameter
had been constructed for catching turtles. Between
the turtle trap and shore was the bathing place se-
lected by the negro driver, and as no one was about
we were soon frolicking in the water. The bottom
was sandy and the place left nothing to be desired
as a place to get wet in except a little more water.
It was waist deep only. We did not venture far be-
yond the empaling for fear of sharks and because the
water did not get much deeper, but managed never-
theless to obtain considerable refreshing exercise and
enjoyment.
When we at last started for shore we saw two ladies
and a gentleman standing in the palm grove with
their backs toward us and looking up toward the tops
of the trees. They had evidently been stopped by us
and did not know what to do or where to look. As
the road led along the edge of the water they could
not get by with dignity and we could not get out with
dignity ; and they did not seem to know that our dress-
ing quarters were within a few feet of their backs,
where we could not dress with dignity.
278 BACK
Upon looking around to see about moving a little
farther away from shore in order to allow them to
pass, we saw a slight commotion of the water and a
speck of black disappear from the surface.
"Not that way," said Frank, "I believe that was a
shark. And the ripples seem nearer."
We stared at each other as nonchalantly as possi-
ble, expecting at any moment to lose a leg.
"Well, which is it, boys," I said, "the ladies or the
sharks?"
"The ladies for me," said Frank, who was fat and
juicy and would have been the first choice of either
a shark or a lady.
"I don't care," said Newman, who looked like a
tough morsel for either of them, and who was lying.
I said that I would risk the shark. I was born bash-
ful and couldn't help it. I could bear to be eaten by
sharks, but I couldn't bear to be looked at by ladies.
Privately, I knew that sharks were not after dry
bones, particularly when meat like Doctor Frank was
to be had.
Doctor Frank, who preferred being eaten by ladies
to being looked at by sharks, hurried out and New-
man, who began to quake, followed him. They were
not seen by the strangers, nor would I have been had
I had courage enough to follow them out. They then
threw my trousers out to me, and began to dress — and
told me to do likewise. I remained in the water until
I heard a splash behind me and a cry of "shark"
from Frank. I hesitated no longer, but screened my-
self with my trousers and started out of the water.
MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS, CHRISTOBAL
SUNDAY AT COLON 279
The noise also caused the ladies to look around just
as I was emerging. However, I emerged. I had
grown brave. So the ladies had to turn around again
and gaze at the tops of the palm trees. I thought I
detected a faint smile on their faces, and felt ashamed
of them. After emerging I learned that Doctor Frank
had made the splash by throwing a stone. The negro
cabman said that the first rippling of the water was
caused by a turtle. Thus does fear make cowards of
us all.
When I was no longer in the way to frighten them,
the ladies, who proved to be old girls with calico com-
plexions, passed on and went into a little gate that
was overgrown with vines, and which had riot been
noticed by us. I suppose they lived there, although
I could see nothing but trees about and beyond the
gate behind which they disappeared. If they had
only told us that they would disappear there we would
have allowed them to pass.
We drove back along the shore thinking that Colon
was a poor place for surf bathing on account of the
sharks and the ladies.
Monday morning I went to Andrews and Company
and learned that the Preston had not been heard from,
but was expected during the day. They were, how-
ever, uncertain and indifferent as to whether it would
require a half day, or one or two days to unload what
was intended for this port. Hence I became panicky out
of fear that I might lose several days waiting if I did
not take the little steamship Brighton. Besides, most
of the Chicago members were going to take it, and
28o BACK
I did not relish being left behind by them. Doctor
Senn, Who was a good sailor and had been in some of
the worst as well as best boats in the world, praised
its arrangements immoderately and advised us Chi-
cagoans all to take it and have a nice, cosy, comforta-
ble time together. We would have plenty of room
because the crowd would of course wait for the Pres-
ton. He allowed his enthusiasm to sway him, and
to prove his sincerity engaged the best room on the
boat for Doctor Waite, and the second best for him-
self. Doctor and Mrs. Brower were willing to go
through yellow flames to get away quickly from yel-
low fever. They chose the captain's room, which
was next to the dining-room, so that they would not
have to walk half of the length of the ship through
rain and dashing spray to their meals, as the rest of
us would have to do in bad weather. Doctor Frank
also was willing to take chances with fire or water,
so it brought him quickly back to Anglo-Saxon civil-
ization. Doctor Newman, who came to the congress
for his health, felt so well and contented that he did
not care what he did, provided he did it. He only
cared to be away from home-sick-home and with the
crowd and, in order to be provided for in any event,
he went down to the boat, hunted up the Norwegian
steward and engaged Doctor Waite's room for himself
and Doctor Frank, not knowing what he did.
I finally made up my mind to cast my lot with my
Chicago friends and accept the week's torture on the
Brighton, trusting to the presence of many doctors
to keep me alive should I become a sick and helpless
SUNDAY AT COLON 281
stowaway in one of those rudimentary cabins near
the rudder. I therefore went to the boat again to see
and fee the Viking steward, who was as stupid as
responsibility and limited authority could make a
fjordman, and engaged as large a part of a room as
he would let me have. I had to take a berth in one
of two rooms that were left, and which were farthest
back, and hoped that no one else would consent to be
put back there. But a panic seldom takes one person
alone, and when we got off every berth was filled and
all officers turned out of their rooms except the pur-
ser, who shared his with Doctor Hughes of St. Louis.
They all tried to get ahead of the crowd, but the crowd
was too smart for them.
Doctor Senn and Doctor Waite had not only each
engaged a separate and entire stateroom of the stew-
ard on Sunday, but had reported their choice to An-
drews and Company in order to be sure of them. But
the steward, who also became panicky at the sight of
so many doctors and doctors' fees, gave Doctor
Waite's room to Doctors Newman and Frank, and
assigned Doctor Waite to Doctor Senn's room — he
didn't know the difference between a man and wom-
an, except in Norway. So when Doctor Senn came
to the boat with his trunks and bags and guns, he
found the two doctors comfortably settled in Doc-
tor Waite's room, and one of them going to bed for
a five-days' nap. Doctor Senn's gun was loaded for
alligators, but he didn't shoot. It was his custom to
think twice before shooting at human beings, and
upon second thought he was in doubt whether to
282 BACK
shoot the doctors, the steward or the United Fruit
Company. Finally he said, "They treat us as if we
were a load of bananas. I will go to the office and
find out about it."
Upon arriving at the office he walked to the clerk's
window and said abruptly:
"Do I look like a banana?"
The clerk raised his iron-dyed head, peered over
his spectacles in a deliberate way and looked at Doc-
tor Senn's yellowish hunting coat and well-rounded
figure.
"Well, I hadn't noticed it. I'm a bit short sighted."
"I thought so," said the doctor. "Did I not apply
for a stateroom for Doctor Waite and another one
for myself, and did you not take the money for them?"
"I dare say you did, sir, and that I did. I always
do that. The steward does the rest."
"Then why did you not tell me that the steward
transacts your business?"
"You didn't ask me, sir. I gave your names to the
steward."
"As a sort of vocal invoice, I suppose. But Doctor
Waite was put in my room and that put me out."
"And without your having any voice in the .matter,
I suppose. But don't be put out about it, doctor. It
was all a mistake. The steward had your names for
the rooms, but he probably thought that the words,
'for Doctor Waite,' meant 'wait for doctor/ Funny
mistake, wasn't it? He waited, and gave it to the
first doctor. Doctor Waite waited too long, you know."
The clerk was kept in a cage, like a bank teller,
SUNDAY AT COLON 283
and knew that he was safe, for Doctor Senn had not
brought his gun and had no training in profanity,
and was thus at a disadvantage. He finally recovered
sufficiently to say:
"Why don't you have a time for the arrival and
departure of your boats?"
"Because we can't make time wait upon their ar-
rival and departure."
"But you could place the time for departure so far
in the future that they could start on time even when
they were behind time. Then all there would be to do
would be not to be ahead of time — and one could be
on hand on time."
"On time? Ahead of time? Time in Panama?
You're joking, you know, and don't know it. You
Americans can undoubtedly attend to your own busi-
ness, and ought to, but you can't do business here."
"Yes," said Doctor Senn, "I have found that out.
I suppose I must talk to the steward. Perhaps I can
make him understand that I am not a banana."
"Yes, doctor, talk to the steward. Perhaps he'll
understand."
Whereupon the clerk's thin lips closed like a clam
shell, and he would neither talk back nor come out
of his cage and fight; and Doctor Senn turned away
murmuring that it was a sad thing that old heads
could not be put on young shoulders, but it was much
sadder when they could not be put on old shoulders.
Thus the organizer of the cosy little sea-party was
an outcast. It was left for me to take pity on him and
share my covey hole with him. He was grateful to
have a place to lay his head.
284 BACK
However, after much to and fro running around
and about the stupid steward, like ants about a lump
of sugar, we all succeeded in our one desire, viz., in
becoming stowaways in a little tub that was to be
delivered to the mercy of the deep, and take great
chances, like Rozhestzensky's sacrificed fleet. I could
not but feel that we had about the same kind of start-
ing out chances as had the unpronounceable admiral
with thirteen letters in his name, who should have left
authority for others to exercise and mistakes for oth-
ers to carry out, like Andrews and Company of United
Fruit Company fame. Then he would not have been
sent to a certain death at sea, and be sentenced to an
uncertain death on land for having been sent to sea.
When we were nearly ready to start, I met the
captain and asked him if he had plenty of mineral
water, wine, beer, Scotch whiskey and stomach bit-
ters on hand, for there were many Chicago doctors
aboard. He said he believed he had none of these in
his medicine chest, for he had not expected to have
more than a passenger or two, and the crew was quite
healthy and did not require any medicines. I then
sought Doctor Senn, our party leader, and told him
of the fate that threatened the ship. He was speechless
for a moment but rallied quickly and said :
"We must have these things. Let us go and buy
some. Let us go immediately. One can live longer
without food than without drink."
So we hunted up a wholesale grocery and liquor
store, and each bought a bottle of sherry, a bottle of
Black and White and half a dozen bottles of claret.
SUNDAY AT COLON 285
We met the captain in the store also buying MEDI-
CINES. But we were afterward more pleased that we
had put in our own stock, for there are two kinds of
ship wine, one good enough to go do^ n, the other good
enough to come up. He had bought what he consid-
ered good enough to come up.
We finally cast loose at noon, one hour late, and
did not get our eleven o'clock breakfast until half
past two. To wait until half past two, after having
trotted about almost constantly since seven, on a cup
of coffee and a roll, perspiring profusely and worrying
intensely for fear we might not get stowed away at
all, and then suffering a shock at the sudden discov-
ery at the last moment of the neglected state of the
commissary department of the ship, was an appro-
priate initiation to what was in store for us. There
were about eighteen of us to be fed by a steward who
was not accustomed to serve more than one or two
who usually served themselves ; and the question was,
how many of us would get anything at all ? The ladies
were undoubtedly "in for it/' in more ways than one.
No boudoir comforts, hair dressers, manicures and
ladies' maids for them.
We all, however, got our breakfast down in time
to have it churned by the trade-wind, which was in
the ship's quarter and which played with our little
boat like a gentle, purring cat with a captive mouse.
Doctor Senn and I carried iced sherry to the ladies
who began to say, "Oh my!" and "Oh dear!" and
"Goodness! I wish I were home," "I'm so sick," etc.
Pretty soon I began to sympathize with them and
286 BACK
took a taste of the sherry myself, and lay down on my
steamer chair and left the ladies to the care of Doc-
tor Senn.
At six o'clock most of the gentlemen tasted of the
dinner, and most of the ladies didn't. But we all got
to bed early and without any discoverable mishaps,
consoled by the knowledge that soon after daybreak
we would be in the sheltered waters of Bocas del
Toro. Our little bunks had boards, plain boards, for
springs, with thick comforters for mattresses and
straw bags for pillows — genuine sailor luxuries. But
we were glad to stay in them and on them. I won-
dered how it must seem to a person who had become
accustomed to such a bed by years of service, to put
up at a first-class hotel. I suppose that he would feel
insecure and would wake up every few minutes in the
night with a sensation of falling through space, and
would have to feel of the soft mattress to be sure
that something solid was under him.
In the morning the sea was quite rough, but I
managed to get on deck just as we steamed trium-
phantly between the foamy reefs into the tranquil
bay. Beautiful Bocas del Toro! Welcome Almirante
Bay! Islas Tropicales! Haven and heaven of the
seasick and suffering!
The large bay was enclosed by luxuriant tropical
islands with their white fringes of foamy reefs, and
the town looked bright and beautiful beneath the
tropical sun and deep blue sky. Numerous little
naphtha launches darted about in all directions giv-
ing a sense of festivity to the scene. At last we had
SUNDAY AT COLON 287
found something worth coming to see. The tropics
were out in all their splendor, and we forgot the other
things. Had we taken the Preston we should not
have seen Bocas del Toro, for her loading place was
Port Limon, which I did not care to see again. Limon
had fine piers, a beautiful garden and a new hospital,
a trinity of artificial attractions whose origin and
pedigree went back to bananas, but here were the
beauties of Nature as they came from the hand of their
creator.
Bocas del Toro is the chief seaport town of Pana-
ma after Colon and the City of Panama, if not before,
and is the center of the banana shipping business of
the republic. It is situated in the Almirante Bay,
which is the northern end of the Chiriqui Lagoon,
but is completely separated from the main lagoon by
islands and reefs between which small boats only can
pass. The channel leading into the bay is called Bocas
del Tigre (Tiger's Mouths), and the channel into the
main lagoon, fifteen miles farther south, is called
Bocas del Drago (Dragon's Mouths), appropriate
names for these wild and dangerous passages as we
were soon to learn by experience. The lagoon be-
tween these passages is shut off from the sea by a
row of islands and reefs placed closely together and
surrounded and connected with breakers that reveal
the hidden rocks and shallows. Beyond and south of
these reefs and Bocas, the lagoon extends into the
mainland, forming a body of water forty-five miles
long by fifteen wide. It is a magnificent bay and is,
I believe, to have a U. S. naval station, for which it is
an ideal location.
288 BACK
Bocas del Toro is nearly two miles from the en-
trance of the bay on the narrow end of an inner coral
island four miles wide by nine miles long. Although
it appeared to us to be situated on the main land, a
ride around the point of the island revealed miles of
water behind it. The town had the usual shape of
the tropical coast towns in Central America, viz., a
narrow strip of houses extending for about a mile
along the thickly wooded shore. There was no need
of piers here for the bananas were brought in launches
from the Chanquinola River, which ran through the
company's plantation, and were loaded directly on the
ships. On account of the protection afforded by the
islands and the consequent tranquillity of the water
in the bay, this presented no more difficulty than
loading from a pier and meant one less handling. It
was the plying back and forth of these launches that
gave the animated appearance we noted when we ar-
rived and made the place look at first glance like a
fashionable watering place with many pleasure boats.
The company sent out a launch and took us ashore,
landing us on a little platform near their office build-
ing and warehouses. This narrow end of the island,
all but the main street, is under water at high tide
and out of water at low tide, the difference between
high and low tide being twenty-three inches. When
we landed it was low tide. Excepting on the main
street, the sidewalks and street crossings were built
two feet above the ground, and in the slimy side
streets we saw innumerable crab holes about which
little sea crabs were crawling so thickly that one
COMBINATION STORE AND RESIDENCE AT
BOCAS DEL TORO
SUNDAY AT COLON 289
could not have put a foot on the ground without step-
ping on two or three of them. They easily had the
right of way except on the raised sidewalks. The
main street, which was next to the sea, was high and
dry however, and had no elevated sidewalks crossing
it like the others, and thus was adapted to the passage
of vehicles. But I saw neither donkey nor cart and
concluded that the highness and dryness of the main
street was a luxury rather than a necessity.
Dr. R. E. Swigart, a young man from Tiffin, Ohio,
who had been located here for several years, told us
that the overflowing of the tide was a benefit to the
town. The salt-water at high tide disinfected and
washed away the filth of the negroes who threw their
dirt and garbage anywhere and everywhere, and
would have rendered the place unsanitary in a short
time. He said that they could not be made cleanly in
their habits. The authorities had planned to fill in
the whole marshy part of the town to a level above
high water, and to cut a channel across the narrow
end of the island occupied by the town, and thus
drain the ground. The place was, however, very
healthy as it was, for there was but little sickness ex-
cepting malaria, and the doctor thought that, when
filled in, the place would become dirty and unhealthy,
notwithstanding the drainage. He said that they
neither had yellow fever nor typhoid fever.
The town itself is small, having only about 1,000
inhabitants, but there are 30,000 people in the sur-
rounding country for whom it is the center of sup-
plies. The United Fruit Company's warehouses are
19
290 BACK
capable of supplying a large population with general
merchandise, but quite a large proportion of the
houses are small groceries and fruit stores and provide
the people with ordinary comestibles.
The sea breeze enabled us, without great discom-
fort, to walk the entire length of the town and a short
distance beyond along the beach at the edge of a dense
forest, where all that was lacking were a few mon-
keys in the trees to transport us into the real, complete
tropics of our juvenile books of travel. On our way
back we bought the largest size ripe pineapples for
ten cents each, and oranges and limes for almost noth-
ing. Doctor Brower, who did not believe in being
seasick on an empty stomach, bought a dozen pineap-
ples, so that he could be seasick all he wanted to.
The other two local physicians (besides Doctor
Swigart) were Dr. R. H. Wilson from Sterling, Mo,,
and Doctor Osterhout from Texas. The latter, a
graduate of Jefferson, had been in Central America
since 1888, and in Bocas del Toro since 1895. He
had charge of the Marine Hospital. The doctors de-
voted their whole time to our entertainment and or-
ganized two of the most delightful and unique ex-
cursions that we had yet taken, affording new experi-
ences to all of us.
The Fruit Company returned us aboard the Brigh-
ton with two dozen pineapples (one dozen for Doctor
Brower and one dozen for other members of the par-
ty), several dozen fresh juicy oranges and many limes.
The oranges we get in Chicago taste like chips in com-
parison with these juicy ones, ripened on the trees
and eaten soon after being picked.
SUNDAY AT COLON 291
We found breakfast ready on the ship and, being
hungry as the result of our exercise, we applied our-
selves to it with all of our energies and dispatched it
with the celerity and success of true sailors, filling up
with solid food and packing it down with juicy fruit.
CHAPTER III
After Bananas and Alligators
A Rough Ride — Wild Scenery along the Reefs — A Devoted
Wife — A Recommendation for the Prevention of Divorces
— A Guide with the Sleeping Sickness — An Exhilarating
Ride on a Platform Car — The Big Banana Plantation —
About Bananas and Plantains — Jamaica Negroes as Labor-
ers— Beautiful Scenery — The Great Ambuscade of the
Little Revolution — Loading at Night — On a Reef all
Night — Danger, Modern and Ancient — Saved by Acci-
dent Insurance — Return to Almirante Bay — The Hunt
Organized — An Excursion to the Chanquinola River
through the Canal — A Twelve-mile Plantation — Tropical
Birds — The Toucan, the Greatest of Degenerates —
Scratching the Alligator's Back — The Reason why I Am
not an Alligator Hunter — How the Trip to the Tropics
Was Saved from Being a Failure — Work in the North
and Loafing in the Tropics — Canal Officials and Soldiers.
The S. S. Brighton had to go into the Chiriqui
Lagoon to gather fruit from two large banana plan-
tations, and then return to Bocas del Toro to complete
its load, thus making an excursion which promised us
not a little entertainment. As our ship was too large
to pass through the small channels between the
islands that separated Almirante Bay from the main
lagoon, it would have to enter through Bocas del
Tigre and thus be four hours on the way, three of
them in the open sea.
292
AFTER BANANAS AND ALLIGATORS 293
We started a little before noon taking with us Doc-
tors Swigart and Osterhout, who did not hesitate to go,
although they knew that we were to return by night
and that there were no vacant bunks in the ship. Mr.
Reid, a civil engineer who had to make a business trip
into the interior, and his wife, who had to see him
off, were acquainted with one of the members of our
party, and added to our entertainment by engaging
passage in our boat. They had lived long in the land
of the banana, and thus knew everything we wished
to know. Doctor Osterhout took his telescope and de-
lighted himself and us with excellent views of the
islands and breakers which were never out of sight.
Although he had lived in the neighborhood ten years,
he seemed even more enthusiastic over the scenery
than we were. At least he was enthusiastic until we
got into the open sea, when he suddenly lost interest;
he said that the sea air always made him sleepy, and
forthwith rolled himself up in a blanket and lay on
a bench with his back toward us, and stayed there
until we had passed through the Tiger's Mouths into
the quiet waters of the lagoon.
It was a pretty sight to steam along in full view
of the islands thickly covered with tropical trees and
bordered by submerged reefs which converted the
sea for half a mile out into curling and splashing
foam. In places the waves struck the abrupt shores
and leaped twenty or thirty feet into the air to descend
in snowy showers. The telescope brought the shore
quite near and enabled us to realize the intensity, ac-
tivity and grandeur of the perpetual dashing, reced-
294 BACK
ing, returning and shattering of the waves on the
shore, and the immensity of the fields of seething
foam. This wild island scenery was entirely different
from the peaceful color crowded views that we had
enjoyed on our little excursion along the islands of
Panama Bay to Toboga. One afforded a peaceful,
sensuous sort of enjoyment; the other filled us with
wonder and admiration.
After having been out in the open sea for a short
time, the ladies became uncomfortably quiet, and like-
wise Doctor Frank, who could always be relied upon.
The rest of us found it helpful from time to time to
gaze steadfastly at the sky, like saints in Madonna
pictures ; or shut our eyes like opossums in trouble ; or
lean back and draw deep breaths, like prize fighters in
distress; or talk ourselves into a state of tolerance
to woe, like stoics in books, in order to pull through.
But we managed, nevertheless, to derive some benefit
from the fifteen miles of continuous animated pan-
orama, and at last arrived at Bocas del Tigre. We
entered the lagoon and, presto, wind and waves and
woes were gone, and we were alive and well again,
including Doctor Osterhout. Mrs. Reid had been, as
was her custom, very sick, yet she had insisted upon
accompanying her husband as far as the boat went.
She had deliberately chosen, even against his wishes,
to undergo several hours of sickness in order to
spend them with him. Surely the mind of woman is
inscrutable, and her ways are beyond the ways of
men. Praised be her courage and devotion and cheer-
fulness. Woman was made to set man a good exam-
AFTER BANANAS AND ALLIGATORS 295
pie, although man was not made to follow it. Men
are apt to remember Eve as she was, and forget wom-
an as she is. Possibly the comparative isolation of a
life in a foreign country where there was neither so-
cial nor public entertainment, but an abundance of
hardship and inconvenience, had drawn them closer
together than the -average husband and wife. In any
case I would suggest a residence in some half-civil-
ized foreign land by those who, after having been mar-
ried a few years, imagine they deserve a divorce. If
such a residence were made a legal qualification for
a divorce, happy marriages might be more common
and our courts less crowded. •
Mr. Reid and Doctor Swigart spared no pains to
entertain us; but after we had entered the lagoon
Doctor Osterhout outdid them, and thus atoned for
having gone to sleep in our forlorn company. He had
found some one to entertain, and was not to be de-
prived of the opportunity. He was a type of our gen-
ial and hospitable Southerner, and gave us more in-
teresting information about plantations, bananas, ne-
groes and internecine wars than if he had been a guide
paid to tell us all that there was and was not.
The little settlement at which we stopped presented
much of the varied charm and beauty which had char-
acterized all of the tropical seaport towns I had so
far seen. The company had built a pier about one
hundred yards long upon which the narrow-gauge
platform cars were brought to be unloaded directly
into the ship.
Doctor Swigart persuaded the company to put a
296 BACK
platform car at our disposal for- a ride over the eight
miles of railroad that traversed the plantation of 800
acres. Chairs were placed upon the car, an engine
attached behind, and away we sped at the rate of
twenty miles an hour through a sort of artificial lane
that had been cut through the forest jungle, and
which, by the encroachment Of the foliage, had become
so narrow that the branches projecting from the
sides often touched us. We went around curves at
such a speed that each one had to hold on to the chair
of his neighbor in order that those sitting at the sides
might not be tipped off. Occasionally we would pass
an opening and get a better view of the high forest
trees, among which were rubber trees, cedar trees,
trumpet trees and other magnificent-looking trees and
plants that were beyond even Doctor Osterhout's
elastic nomenclature. At one large meadowlike open-
ing we saw a herd of sturdy-looking cattle grazing
peacefully in a meadow upon which a picturesque lit-
tle slaughter-house had been built for their conven-
ience. The company did its own slaughtering and
thus provided their employees with good fresh meat.
After riding for a couple of miles we came to the
banana trees, which also grew close up to the rails.
Every few hundred yards side-tracks ran out at either
side enabling the laborers to load directly on the cars
and sent the fruit out on the piers to the steamships.
As the temperature is practically the same all the
year around, banana trees are planted at any and all
seasons and each tree bears twice a year. They do
not, however, bear according to the season of the
A BUNCH OF BANANAS
AFTER BANANAS AND ALLIGATORS 297
year, but according to their individual maturity. Slips
are planted at any time, and begin to bear in a year,
and thus bananas are maturing and being gathered
at all seasons. When a stock is cut off a new one
grows out in its place. The ripe bunches grow wrong
side up, for when they become heavy the stem
bends until at last the end points downward and the
individual bananas upward. They are gathered be-
fore they are fully grown, otherwise they burst upon
ripening and spoil quickly. The yellow ones are cul-
tivated almost to the exclusion of the red ones, which
have less flavor (although perhaps a more delicate
one) and have, I believe, poorer keeping qualities.
Doctor Osterhout bribed a negro to find a couple of
bunches of plantains to be cooked for us on the ship.
The plantain resembles the yellow banana but is near-
ly twice as long and is not palatable until cooked.
When ripe it may either be roasted in the rind or be
cut in slices and fried. It has not such a rich fruity
flavor as the banana, but is very nourishing and makes
a better dish for the table. Those served on the boat
were fried and had a slightly tart taste, and were very
acceptable as a substitute for fresh vegetables.
The plantations are worked by Jamaica negroes,
who are hardier and better laborers than the natives
and are said to be good-natured, docile and content.
They gathered in crowds to see us pass, for some one
had told them that the governor of Jamaica was one
of our party, and Doctor Senn was designated as the
man. The doctor bore the honor with becoming dig-
nity and left them with the impression that he was
298 BACK
genuine. They showed great respect toward him
and were evidently loyal British subjects.
We soon rode into a wide valley along which the
plantation extended for miles. A lively river ran
through it and steep hills arose on either side becom-
ing progressively higher and more rugged. A succes-
sion of beautiful and varying views of mountain, for-
est and river scenery was thus presented to us as we
rushed around the curves in an almost constant state
of exhilaration for fear of being swung off into the
bushes and having our faces scratched.
We stopped at the spot where, during the recent
revolution, the insurgents had ambushed the govern-
ment troops. The insurgents, 1,000 in number, stood
on the steep side of a round hill near the railroad
track where the train bearing the regulars had to
pass. But the foliage on the hill was so dense that
not an insurgent or field-piece could be seen from the
cars, nor did it look as if there was room for field-
pieces between the trees. When, however, the train
arrived nearly opposite the rebels, they opened fire
with gun and cannon, killing the helpless troops in
great numbers. The vivid conception of this horrible
tragedy, occurring so recently on the very spot we
halted that I looked about me for blood stains, inter-
fered somewhat with the full enjoyment of the scen-
ery.
When we returned, the ship proceeded to the other
landing not far away to take on bananas in the dark
and start back for Bocas del Toro in time to be there
at daybreak. The success of this plan would have
AFTER BANANAS AND ALLIGATORS 299
saved us three hours of distress, for we would have
been asleep during the passage through the choppy
sea outside of the reefs. But neither sleep nor a night
ride was granted us by destiny.
As it was raining, I retired early and fell asleep
about the time the loading in the lagoon was finished,
expecting to awake at Bocas del Toro in Almirante
Bay. About midnight, however, I was awakened
by the noise of the machinery. The screw would start
up with a terrific noise, then stop for a few moments
and begin again. I soon became aware of the fact
that the ship was not moving forward, but only shak-
ing itself like a dog emerging from the water. But
why it should want to stay there and shake itself all
night and churn us up in its vitals, I could not divine,
and lay hoping that it would quiet down or go ahead
before bursting something.
At seven o'clock we began to move at last, and I
went on deck and learned the truth, viz., that the negro
pilot had attempted to find his way out through the
channel and, as the night was dark and rainy, had
run the boat on a reef. There was no lighthouse to
mark the channel, but he, like Admiral Rozhestzen-
sky, had his orders to go and come, and like
Rozh — nsky, he had to try his luck. If the reef had
not been planed off by Providence and sunk just to
the right depth to let us get on and off easily, and
had not the wind and waves been kept down, the sec-
ond-hand ship would have been wrecked and our
steamer trunks lost. But the above-mentioned com-
bination of circumstances had conspired in our favor,
300 BACK
a combination, take it all in all, the like of which we
shall never see again. As it was, the boat must have
suffered considerable damage and might not have been
able to live in the West Indian storm that was wait-
ing for it — and us.
However, I took the matter coolly during the time
of danger, and also afterward when I learned that
there had been danger, for I was a student of statis-
tics and knew that men are ten times as safe on a ship
as on land and that more accidents occur to people
in their homes than while riding on the cars. Bankers
suffer twice as many accidents as policemen, and car-
penters nine times as many. Railroad conductors are
considered good risks by the accident insurance com-
panies, and commercial travelers the very best. In
fact, statistics prove that there is danger everywhere.
There is danger in crossing a street, danger in open-
ing a window and in shutting a door, danger in bath-
ing and danger in taking off a coat. There is even
danger in sleeping, for many accidents take place
during sleep, and most people die in bed.
I felt thankful that we were not living in the times
of ancient Rome where danger and death were the
rule, and survival was accidental, if we may, credit
an account of the conditions once prevalent there
given by one evidently who knew what he was writ-
ing about.
"Owing to the great noise in the streets, none but
the rich could sleep, while most invalids died from
want of rest and well- people from suicide or acci-
dents. A stream of carriages was continually passing
AFTER BANANAS AND ALLIGATORS 301
in the narrow and crooked thoroughfares, and the
drivers were perpetually engaged in noisy disputes
and foul abuse of one another. If you were in haste,
your passage was obstructed by the crowd. If you
loitered, a rich man's litter, borne aloft on stout shoul-
ders, jostled you aside; those behind pressed upon
your back; one man would dig into you with his el-
bow ; another with a sharp pole ; your shoulder would
be struck by a joist, your head by a beam, and a cask
would bark your shins. Your legs were bespattered
with mud, on all sides you were trodden on, and the
nail of a soldier's boot would stick in your toe. The
cooks scattered the burning coals as they hurried by
with their patrons' meals, and your clothing was torn
into shreds. One wagon loaded with a fir tree, an-
other with a huge pine, shook the streets as they ad-
vanced, the rear ends waving to and fro, felling the
people right and left. Another wagon was loaded
with stones from the quarries of the Apenines, and
when the axle broke the mass was precipitated on
the people. Who could find his scattered limbs or
gather up his carcass thus ground to powder? Then
there were the dangers of the night when broken
crockery, thrown out of lofty windows, made dents
in pavements and skulls. Indeed, there were as many
fates awaiting you as windows where you passed.
You might thank your lucky stars when they threw
only the contents of the basins and pots upon you.
Rash was he who went to supper without first making
out his will. Or your life was put in jeopardy by
some drunken and ill-tempered fellow who picked a
302 BACK
quarrel with every first person he met. He took care
to avoid the scarlet cloak and the long train of at-
tendants, the many lights and the brazen lamp, but
you whom the moon alone attended he assassinated.
Or you met a worse fate if you fell into the hands of
the soldiers, driven by a mob and legging it about
the streets, and who would crack your head as if
they were cracking a joke, and thus revenge them-
selves on the pursuing mob/'
Thus in ancient Rome they needed insurance and
only had assurance, while nowadays we have insur-
ance but only need assurance. In modern life danger
is minimized and insurance magnified. I was quite
heavily insured against accident, and my observation
and experience had been that the heavier the insurance
the slighter the danger, and the slighter the danger, the
heavier the insurance. This is the policy of the com-
panies. The only difficulty about insurance is to get
enough to entirely avert danger. It is a subject for
statistics. Statistics never lie to insurance companies,
for they have policy holders to make good and an ad-
vertisement system to make policy holders.
Those who did not carry much insurance were con-
siderably frightened, particularly after the danger was
over and they learned of it, and even to this day they
talk with bulging eyes of the might-have-been disaster.
Accident insurance, therefore, should be carried for the
comfort it affords both before and after the dangers
are past, as a remedy for nervousness. You go into
danger with a prospect of making your family the
present of a snug little sum of money, and are thus
AFTER BANANAS AND ALLIGATORS 303
braver and more cheerful; that is, if you are a mar-
ried man. A bachelor may be brave, but death for
him has no cheerful side. He has to depend upon
life.
Mrs. Reid, in trying to spend more time with her
husband, was fortunate enough to be left behind. She
thus would have two or three more happy days with
him before the next ship would come for bananas, and
she would then return at night according to the reg-
ular custom. She would, of course, have to take her
chances with the reefs if the night should happen to
be dark; but who would hesitate to choose between
a slight death risk at night and certain deathly sick-
ness by day? I think it quite likely that her husband
did not allow her to risk the passage of the Tiger's
Mouths in such a night.
We bore up pretty well during the trying three
hours at sea, all but Doctor Frank and the ladies.
Doctor Osterhout was again taken with one of his
drowsy, unsociable spells soon after we got out in
the open sea ; he. lay down on the bench and covered
his head, as usual, and was not heard from again un-
til we entered the tranquil waters of Almirante Bay
just in time for the eleven o'clock breakfast. He
seemed to have the faculty of awakening whenever
he wanted to eat or talk.
Doctor Senn had been hinting enthusiastically about
an alligator hunt, so the local doctors organized an ex-
cursion up the Chanquinola River, which ran through
the company's plantation. The plantation, according
to Doctor Osterhout's information, contained 1,000
304 BACK
acres of land and was twelve miles long; but he did
not say how wide that would make it. The reader
can easily figure out the width for himself, or if he
can not, let him get one of his boys or girls who is
going to school do it for him — they are fresh in math-
ematics. The river is about 1,200 feet wide and quite
deep, but as its mouth is completely closed to naviga-
tion by reefs, the company had dug a channel about
twenty feet wide and eight miles long connecting it
with Almirante Bay.
A steam launch having been placed at our disposal,
we steamed across the bay to the mainland, which was
several miles from Bocas del Toro, entered the con-
necting channel, and were soon gliding through the
jungle. On our left the forest came to the water's
edge ; on the right a narrow pathway had been cleared
for pedestrians. Without this cleared way pedestrians
would not have been able to reach the different sta-
tions along the canal. A fine rain was falling a large
part of the time, but Doctor Senn and Doctor Oster-
hout sat upon the awning with their legs dangling
down over the edge, shooting birds and looking for
alligators. The rest of us sat or stood comfortably
under the awning and, thus protected, enjoyed the
novel scenery. The most interesting part was watch-
ing the tropical birds of many sizes, shapes and colors
that flew incessantly from one part of the impenetra-
ble wilderness across our path to settle down in an-
other, some remaining on the trees where we could get
a better view of them as we passed, others disappear-
ing in the jungle as suddenly as they had appeared.
TOUCAN, OR PREACHER BIRD
AFTER BANANAS AND ALLIGATORS 305
We saw cockatoos, parrots, toucans and a great varie-
ty of small birds, which, taken together, might be
said to be almost as numerous as sparrows about our
Northern houses and gardens. Although Doctor
Senn killed a large number of them as they flew by,
we could seldom get one because they fell into the
tangle of the dense underbrush.
The most common of the larger birds was the tou-
can, the most extraordinary degenerate in the whole
animal kingdom, not even excepting man. It has a
nose as long as its body. Pluck out its feathers and
you can not tell which is the degenerate part, the
enormously developed, six-inch bill or the compara-
tively puny, six-inch body. The bill is certainly the
best developed of the two and capable of giving the
body the best possible chance of gathering food and
surviving where other species might die out. Perhaps
this adaptability for feeding itself accounted for the
great number we saw in comparison with the smaller
number of others of any one kind. But how the bird
manages to escape indigestion is certainly a mystery.
One mouthful ought to replete it beyond recovery.
The color of the bill is a softly blended mixture of
red, yellow, blue and green, and the body a gaudy
combination of the same. The bird is called by the
natives the "preacher bird" because it owes its rep-
utation to the development of its mouth ; and one va-
riety has a black body like a preacher. But I myself
would have called it the "fashion bird" because it re-
sembles a woman of fashion; for it attracts attention
from a distance by the enormity of its headgear, and
20
306 BACK
when the body arrives you are confronted with a bunch
of beautiful frills and feathers, a "thing of beauty and
a joy forever."
But Doctor Senn was out for alligators, for some-
thing that could not fly away and get lost in the jun-
gle after it was killed, and he would have sat on the
sharp edge of the awning with his feet in midair for
a week rather than miss the big game. He did thus
sit for four hours, and was finally rewarded. After
traversing eight miles of wilderness, we came to the
river and steamed upstream a few miles, enjoying
extended views of hill and valley ; and on our way back
spied the alligator. He was lying on his stomach
basking in the sun, which had come out after the rain
and which was drying off his back and Doctor Senn's
legs. He looked immense, sprawled out at the water's
edge in an attitude of the greatest reptilian comfort
and content, as if seeming to say, "You scratch my
back and I'll scratch yours." Doctor Senn took in
the situation and scratched his back.
As we were several hundred feet away, it was im-
possible to say just where the bullet struck. The alli-
'gator knew, however, and was satisfied with one
scratch, for he flopped into the water and disappeared
as if he had been shot and we left him for dead. It
occurred to me that there were three things an alli-
gator hunter has to contend with, viz., first, to find
his game ; next, to kill it, and, last, to get it. But for
these difficulties I might enjoy alligator hunting my-
self.
As we glided back late in the afternoon through the
AFTER BANANAS AND ALLIGATORS 307
still waters of the artificial forest channel, closely
hemmed in on either side by the mysterious solitude
of omnipotent Nature, and which was now silent and
strewn with the dead reminders of Doctor Senn's fell
ambition, it seemed to me that these two excursions
to the banana plantations would have saved my trip
to the tropics from failure even if the congress had
not served as the fulfillment of a joyous scientific duty.
Nothing else had come up to my expectations, except
bad weather, seasickness and the $25,000 barrel. Now
I had had my reward and felt that traveling in the
tropics surpassed all other travel in the world — some-
times for good and sometimes for bad. Staying at
home is the only thing that beats it in either respect.
Any fool can travel in the tropics but it takes a wise
man, or a poor man, to stay at home. Blessed are the
wise, and the poor.
However, there have been wise men who went to
Panama ; but they came back again. Work was made
for the white man in the North and probably for the
negro in the temperate South, but no work was in-
tended to be done by any one in tropical regions, un-
less he goes up on a high mountain to do it. The
Northerner, by centuries of practice, has acquired im-
munity from the bad effects of work in temperate cli-
mates, but this immunity soon wears out when he goes
to the tropics, just as the immunity from the bad ef-
fects of loafing wears off when the native of the trop-
ics comes North. The bad effects of work are en-
demic in the tropics and are only kept from becoming
epidemic by the small amount of work done. I hope
3o8 BACK
that the new canal officials and engineers will be sol-
diers and will, like our army officers already stationed
at Panama, prove an exception to human nature and
will become immune to the laws of human nature and
do some work on the ground, and that they will live
long enough.*
*The above was written before the president undertook to construct the
canal through the agency of army officers and thus removes all doubt about
the wisdom of his course. The work is now being done for the benefit of
the United States instead of for the benefit of engineers and contractors.
The adoption of this course was a happy thought of a great administration.
CHAPTER IV
From Bad to Worse
Out of Provisions — Shopping for Wet Goods in the Dark —
Mud and Rain — Artistic Imitation of Jamaica Cigars —
Smoking for Fair Weather — A Stoic Doctor — Ingratitude
—A Model Roommate— A $1,200 Bill for False Labels-
Spoiling a Good Article with a Poor Price — Prepared to
Fast — The Greatest Mathematician and Gravest Phi-
losopher of Modern Times — Rough Weather — A Ladies'
Man— In Protected Waters— All on Deck— A Sudden
Arrival — An Unsuccessful Attempt — A Rolling Ship
Gathers no Stoics — A Charge on a Steamer Chair — Wash-
ing the Deck with White Rock Water— Female Sym-
pathy— A Dispute between Two Old Friends — A Broken
Chair — A Retreat — An Immune from Seasickness —
Rough Again — The Breakfast Habit — Eating and Roll-
ing— A Mixed-up Breakfast — Being Rammed and Trod
upon — Too much Hughes — Pope and Jordan — The
Apotheosis of Calmness — Philosophy out of Place — Struck
by a Norther — A Night of Pandemonium — Distressed
Doctors — A Doctor's Appetite — A Doctor in Distress —
Getting Dressed Successfully — Losing Time to Avoid
Being Wrecked.
Upon our return to Bocas del Toro we discovered
that we were in need of a new supply of provisions.
We had smoked the cigars, the ladies had consumed
the sherry, Doctor Brower had drunk the water and
the liquor had evaporated. Hence we resolved to
make a night raid upon the company's warehouse.
309
BACK
The darkness was intense and it began to rain again,
and as there were no street lamps, we had to find our
way by the light of memory. This guided us success-
fully both to the warehouse and to the mud puddles,
the first of which was unfortunately closed and the
latter open. However, the local doctors, our good
genii, who always appeared whenever we "rubbed" up
against difficulty and wished for anything, went off
into the dark and hunted up the agent and found him
eating. After he had finished what must have been
a many-course dinner he finally appeared; but as he
was not the custodian of the keys he started out to
locate the negro who was, leaving us standing at the
warehouse door in darkness and drizzle, and in hopes
that negroes dined earlier and less protractedly than
managers. When the negro at last arrived he also
went away in search of a candle, for there was no
provision for lighting the warehouses. The absence
of lighting apparatus and the prohibition of smoking
in the building served as a substitute for an insur-
ance company and a fire department. When the can-
dle finally came, its light was practically lost in the
large salesroom, and the salesmen, who were the only
beings that knew where the goods were kept, were
not there. But we did not care to wait for the sales-
man to eat and be sent for ; waiting and eating didn't
seem to expedite matters. So we proceeded to hunt
in the dark for the needles in the haystack, for the can-
dle showed but one thing at a time, and that was after
it had been brpught about near enough to set it on
fire. However, Doctor Brower found and purchased
FROM BAD TO WORSE 311
a box of one hundred bottles of White Rock, and
Doctor Senn found plenty of Pommard, although
Pommard was not what was wanted.
By this time we young men were tired of waiting
for what could not be found and, leaving the older
ones marching single file around and about between
the counters and shelves by the light of a candle, like
a catacomb party without a guide, we waded across
the muddy street toward a light that proved to be in
the window of a Chinese provision store, and obtained
what we wanted in a minute. We called for some
Jamaica Tropicales, which were the only good cigars
retailed over the counter in the Panama Republic.
They were always uniform in quality as far as our
experience went, and when the Chinaman put a half
box of them on the counter we quickly transferred
them to our pockets and called for more. But instead
of opening a new box, he reached under the counter,
gathered a couple of handfuls of cigars and placed
them in the box out of which we had bought the oth-
ers. This, of course, made us suspicious, since Ja-
maica cigars must have been imported in boxes. Nev-
ertheless, when compared with one I had left from
a fine lot I had bought at Washington Hotel, I could
not detect any difference. If the cigars were imita-
tions they were works of imitative art that did credit
even to a Chinaman, and were valuable as such. So
we bought freely of them and felt still more certain
of their genuineness because he charged us twenty-
five cents in Panama silver instead of twenty cents,
and would not listen to our offers to buy much more
3i2 BACK
freely for twenty cents. We were, however, glad to
pay the extra five cents as it was a sort of guarantee
that they were genuine. We knew that an imitation
never costs more than the original. Finding the cigars
so orthodox, we called for sherry, and as it was la-
beled exactly like that we had bought before, we pur-
chased some and went out in the rain and mud re-
joicing.
We were soon back on shipboard, and when we had
finished our dinner I sat down to enjoy one of my fresh
Tropicales. To my surprise, it did not have the flavor
it should have had, and became worse with each puff.
I threw it away half smoked, for what I smoke on
shipboard must be all right, or it is all wrong. I
again compared those I had bought with the good one
I had brought, and there still seemed to be no differ-
ence. They looked so good that I felt like keeping them
to look at whenever I was tempted to smoke.
But that would have been selfish, for I had
learned that Doctor Senn had not been able to
find any cigars in the dark warehouse, and was
longing for a good smoke. I also knew that anything
that looked like tobacco would be acceptable to him,
just as boiled leather made grateful soup for Mor-
gan's buccaneers when they were starving on their
way across the isthmus. So I presented my Chinese
works of art to him. He accepted them gratefully
without dreaming of questioning their quality, and
smoked them on faith during the rest of the stormy
voyage, a remarkable tour de force at such a time. He
had the faith that performs miracles and perfumes
FROM BAD TO WORSE 313
tobacco. During a storm a cigar seemed to steady
him as a pole steadies a tight-rope walker. While the
ladies were praying for fine weather, and the men
sighing and groaning for it, Doctor Senn smoked
for it, and got it. He made his own weather. To him
storms and showers became unsubstantial externals
and went up in smoke. Neither strong cigars nor
mountain waves affected him nor disturbed the even
tenor of his ways. He took them as they came and
called them good. Indeed but few men are gifted
with his powers of endurance nor his even temper in
times of storm and distress. I was his roommate and,
altogether, heard him sigh only twice while in the
stateroom, and these sighs were probably merely lit-
tle suppressed gusts of impatience at the choice of the
ship he had made, and the ingratitude of the com-
pany's officials in turning him out of his room after
he had filled the ship for them with first-class passen-
gers.
I have thought it worth the while to mention this
Chinese cheat for the benefit of those who remain at
home and can not get their experience at first hand.
It is necessary to be careful in buying wines and liq-
uors and other less popular goods of them, to see that
they are properly labeled and in unbroken packages.
However, there is even then an opportunity of being
cheated, for although the Chinese on the isthmus have
not the facilities for putting up goods in imitation of
those imported in packages, some of the white mer-
chants are reported to be carrying on a large busi-
ness in the substitution of goods. One firm in Colon
314 EACK
is said to have paid a single bill of $1,200 for counter-
feit labels to be put upon goods of their own bottling.
This is shocking to us North Americans, who have
recently passed a law against false labeling.
Of course, the Chinese are apt to buy these falsely
labeled articles and sell them in good faith. Hence
it is also better to get everything one can not judge
of for himself from reputable business houses, al-
though one may have to pay more. I remember that
when Doctor Senn and I stopped at a Chinese store
in Colon and asked for the best sherry in the country
the Chinaman offered us a bottle for seventy cents in
gold. We were too aristocratic to buy such cheap
stuff, although the label looked genuine, and we re-
fused to take it. We hunted up a well-known whole-
sale and retail importing house and bought a bottle
for a dollar. I afterward examined the label and it
was exactly like the label on the Chinaman's seventy-
cent bottle, and like the one on the bottle I bought
of the Chinaman at Bocas del Toro for seventy cents.
The wine tasted the same and was the same in every
respect but one, viz., the price. We knew also that it
was imported wine for we were not buying it in the
United States.
At last we were all aboard the Brighton: bananas,
plantains, pineapples, oranges, wines, cigars, land-
lubbers, land ladies and all, and started merrily for
home. We were glad to get out of the mud and rain,
and soon were off, and out in a rough sea.
The next morning we awoke to find the ship rock-
ing like a cradle. We had prepared ourselves to feast,
FROM BAD TO WORSE 315
but found ourselves ready to fast. Feasting is often a
preparation for fasting. This fact is in keeping with
the advice of the greatest mathematician and gravest
philosopher in the business world, viz., the modern
insurance agent, who says that in health we should
be continually preparing for sickness and death.
Feasting does it.
All day long we had a succession of squalls and
tropical showers, drenching the canvas of our steamer
chairs and converting the upper deck into a rendez-
vous of cold shower baths. The ladies staid in bed
while the men wandered disconsolately along the wave-
swept deck from the stuffy staterooms to the dreary
dining-room. With the aid of appetizers some of the
more determined ones managed to go to meals, nibble
a little and hurry out on deck where the ever-waiting
wave seldom failed to give a douche and get a d n.
As Doctor Senn was not seasick, he was kept busy
waiting on the ladies. There was no stewardess on
board, but I am sure no stewardess could have been
more willing for pay to do what he did out of kind-
ness of heart. The ladies suffered not for iced sherry
nor for egg-nogs and, under his care, got better when-
ever the weather moderated. He proved to be a
ladies' man in the best sense of the word. The steward,
who was not a ladies' man, was kept busy in the din-
mg-room and pantry most of the time but, acting as
the doctor's assistant in preparing things, he man-
aged to be of some occasional use besides putting on
and taking off table food that was not tasted. Wheth-
er the doctor enjoyed the honor thrust upon him of
waiting upon the ladies, or whether he was clandes-
3i6 BACK
tinely annoyed, no one could assert or deny, for he did
it with the same dutiful cheer that he ate, slept,
smoked and worked, one or more of which he was do-
ing all the time.
During the night we ran into protected waters near
the coast of Honduras and the doctor's patients all
felt better, and Friday morning were able, by lying
very still on their steamer chairs, to be on deck. He
asked them how they felt and they said they felt quite
well, and thanked him for it. The ship had stopped
its pitching and had taken a slow-rolling gait, a sort
of sea-canter, that was quite easy for those who liked
it.
The weather overhead was sunshiny and alluring,
and all of the men but Doctor Brower and Doctor
Frank were out. Suddenly, to our delight, Doctor
Brower appeared among us and was greeted with ap-
propriate applause. The doctor is a large man with
one of those cheery natures whose hearty laugh
spreads its contagion wherever it is heard. He is of
sober Dutch descent, but so many American grafts
have been incorporated into the original stock that the
only Dutch qualities left are a large waist, great in-
dustry, and an unusual capacity for work and words.
Physically considered he is the equivalent of a whole
roomful of Dutchmen, and has tenfold the vivacity of
the whole Netherlands on his tongue. He has that
easily aroused, nervous organism that belongs to our
own country, and which is undoubtedly accentuated
in him by having spent his whole adult life studying
and treating neurasthenics and lunatics. It is a well-
FROM BAD TO WORSE 317
recognized fact that people who live with or associate
intimately with the insane have more or less mental
aberration induced in them by a sort of hypnotic sug-
gestion, an aberration which neurologists recognize
in others, but not in themselves.
He greeted us without the signs of joyful emotion
that characterized his usual manner, and hurried across
the deck to the pile of steamer chairs, jerked off the
topmost one, which was Doctor Frank's, and unfolded
it hurriedly. Just as he had it straightened out and
placed, the boat gave a lurch to one side and sent him
staggering across the deck. When he struck the life-
boat he clung to it, straightened up and stared at the
chair defiantly, as if to say, "Damn !" But he had the
gentlemanly instinct that did not allow him to forget
himself in the presence of ladies. He tried to assume
his usual cheerful but dignified expression, but his
feature only expressed pathos and pathology. A roll-
ing ship gathers no stoics, as the saying is. We would
have led him to the chair, but we knew that he had
the pride born of the habitual exercise of power and
authority, and would resent help as long as he was
able to be on his feet. Moreover, most of us felt
that we ourselves might suddenly lose our dignity,
etc., if we did not lie still. Finally the spirit of the
soldier gained the upper hand. He1 made a success-
ful charge upon the chair and dropped on it with such
force that its rickety joints cracked and its slender
legs began to spread. While on his feet he had dis-
played some remnants of his great energy, but his
head was no sooner down than his energy centered
3i8 BACK
itself in the stomach. He jumped up into a sitting
posture as if started by an electric shock, and before
he could get on his feet the deck was flooded with
White Rock water. He then sank back in the steamer
chair, causing more spreading and creaking of its
frail legs and exclaimed, "I declare ! That White Rock
tastes better out of the bottle than out of the stomach/'
At this, the lady who sat next to him could not re-
sist an impulse to imitate him, although she had other-
wise good manners. But she had no reserve of White
Rock to call upon; she could produce nothing but a
set of teeth, which went overboard. Discouraged
with the result of so much conspicuous and exhaust-
ive effort, she allowed herself to be helped off the
scene by her gagging husband. Several of us sup-
pressed a few sympathetic flourishes and hid our eyes
like ostriches, and were safe.
Pretty soon Doctor Senn, who had experience in
about everything but in being seasick, began to think
that perhaps Doctor Brower needed some helpful
advice, and said in his kind, deliberate way: "Brower,
you have been drinking again. I have always told
you that so much water disagreed with you. The
deck was made to be kept clean, but not with White
Rock. If you would drink something stronger, it
would teach you to drink less in quantity, and thus
incline you toward moderation."
Doctor Brower raised himself to make a vigorous
response when the spreading legs of the rickety chair
gave way, and man and chair collapsed, the doctor
sick and the chair dead.
FROM BAD TO WORSE 319
"Come, Brower, let me help you to your state-
room. Bed is the best place when you are sick."
While saying this Doctor Senn went to him to help
him, but he began to feel better and would not be
helped.
"No, thank you, Senn; I am all right now. I never
felt better. I'll try another chair."
"Ah, I thought that you were not really sick. It
was all a joke after all. As long as a man can con-
tinue producing more than he consumes he must be
all right. Have a cigar."
Doctor Brower looked at the cigar, turned suddenly
pale, said "Ugh," and started toward his stateroom.
"What a great thing a sea voyage is to bring out
all there is in a man," said Senn, as his friend disap-
peared. He then lighted a fresh cigar and sat down
to read French poetry.
But Doctor Brower's experience was only a sample
of what was in store for the rest of us. He merely
got ahead of the crowd, as usual. Eleven o'clock,
our breakfast hour, came an hour too late. By eleven
o'clock the wind blew, the waves grew, and the break-
fast flew. But the breakfast habit had become too
firmly fixed to be broken off voluntarily, and when the
hour came around, those of us who were able to be
about could not resist the impulse to try our luck. Two
ladies were counted among the brave when we solemn-
ly filed into the dining-room, viz., Doctor Waite and
Mrs. Brower. But they were out of place, for the oc-
casion called for gymnastics rather than gustatics, for
dexterity rather than daintiness. The table, which
320 BACK
extended across the room from side to side, was set
with the frames on, for the rolling of the ship was
such that itself was about the only thing that did not
go over. Every few minutes a big lurch would send
dishes, frames, chairs and passengers sliding down to
the end of the table, changing food from one framed
space to another, and feet and elbows from one place
to another.
Doctor Hughes, who sat next to me, had an old
head and a young face, and was of that indefinite age
at which the hair turns prematurely white and men
grow considerate and gentle in their ways and feel-
ings. He was greatly distressed whenever his chair
struck mine, when his feet came down upon my feet,
when his elbow rammed my ribs, and his bottles and
plates with their spilling contents mixed freely with
mine. His elbows hurt me and he knew it; but he
was helpless to avoid it, for I sat in the corner of an
ell at the end of the table and served as a buffer
to stop the advance of the whole line. He had the
accumulated momentum of the others, besides the
motion of the ship, to resist, but he had me for a cush-
ion. His distress was mental; mine was physical.
In order to conceal my suffering I called in as gay a
voice as I could command to Doctor Newman, who sat
opposite on the solid seat that ran along the wall of the
room, and was able to cling to his place and to his food.
"What do you think of this jam, Doctor Newman?"
"I'm fond of jam ; pass it over, please."
"Ask Doctor Hughes. I got mine from him."
"Oh! Ah! I see! You've got too much Hughes.
FROM BAD TO WORSE
321
Everything is going your way. But this passive
exercise is just what we all need. The boat is doing
the moving ; all we have to do is to resist, and to eat."
Doctor Frank had brought Jordan's "Majesty of
Calmness" to read en voyage, but had not yet come
out of his five-days' doze. So Doctor Hughes bor-
rowed it (not the doze), and spent the afternoon read-
ing extracts to us from it, and in quoting Pope's
"Essay on Man." At any other time and place I prob-
ably could have appreciated these books, although I
would not have taken time to read them, but it seemed
to me that Jordan was more or less possessed about the
word calmness. It is easy to say to yourself or to
the sea, "Be calm," but there are things beyond Jor-
dan both in the mind and in the sea. Pope's polished
verse and filigreed philosophy are out of place in the
trade-winds. Even the meaning of words and the
truth of philosophy depend upon the way the wind
blows. It is not what the author writes, but what the
reader reads that makes the book.
We were heartily weary of trade-winds which came
from the east and kept steadily in our quarter, and
we clamored for a change, knowing that all things
come to those that wait. And the change did come.
At about 9 P. M. the wind changed and a "norther"
struck us. And we quickly realized that it was a
change, all except Doctor Senn. He may have no-
ticed a difference. It was one of those things nobody
could divine.
Discretion was the only part of valor for us and we
arrayed ourselves on the side of Doctor Brower, who
21
322 BACK
was a born leader. We got to bed as quickly as pos-
sible without thinking of consequences, or of prepar-
ing either our souls or our staterooms. The ship be-
gan to pitch as well as roll, and a sort of "still life"
pandemonium kept us awake all night. The steamer
screw was out of water half of the time and shook
us, and the motion of the boat knocked us about in
our bunks until we felt beaten up like raw eggs. The
electric light was put out as usual at midnight and
we were left to our imaginations. Doors and port-
hole windows began to slam with startling thuds,
chairs tumbled over and bumped back and forth, bot-
tles rolled and clinked around the stateroom floors,
while heavy things all over the ship fell and crashed.
The sailors did such noisy work that we could not lis-
ten to it and sleep. The night was long and dreary.
Finally at daybreak the machinery suddenly stopped
working, allowing the ship to drift before the wind,
but the sailors made more noise than ever, replacing
broken bolts and tying the shaky rudder on with ropes.
I knew that the boat was drifting and said, "Let her
drift. Let her go down. Let us have peace/' I
thought that I might as well die in bed as to get up
and die with my boots on. I might as well lie there
comfortably and die from taking too much water as to
get up and drink California sherry, and have my head
cracked against the bunks and washstand beforehand,
or against the walls of the narrow passageways. I
might as well be a good-looking corpse as a mutilated
one. I was less helpless in bed than out of it. In bed
I could die with majesty, the majesty of calmness.
FROM BAD TO WORSE 323
Besides, it was rainy and cold outside, and although
my bed was a hard rolling-place, I dreaded the diffi-
cult dressing, the dreary standing about all day in the
cold, the holding on, and, above all, the dizziness and
distress that belonged to keeping the head up. So I
remained in bed and took my chances.
The slamming, hammering, clinking and shaking
of the screw all stopped at last, which gave a certain
kind of relief and enabled me to hear what was going
on in the corridors and adjoining staterooms. Ap-
parently some of the others were trying to get up and
out into the rain and cold. I suppose that, like eating,
the habit of getting up in the morning had grown on
them and that they could not rest until they had done
it. The first thing I heard was a feminine voice say-
ing:
"How bad the air is in here ! — If I could only get up
on deck! — Doctor Senn, are you anywhere? If you
are, will you please bring me some iced sherry? — If
I only had something on my stomach it wouldn't make
me feel so sick. I'm so faint. I wish I had an egg-
nog."
Soon afterward I heard Doctor Newman call out in
a sonorous, unnecessarily cheerful voice at the other
end of the hallway.
"Why, good morning, Doctor! How do you feel
this morning?"
A man's voice answered:
"First rate, thank you. Did you rest well?"
"Slept like a top. Only woke up once when I
rolled out of bed upon an overturned stool and struck
my head. Let's go and have our coffee."
324
BACK
"No, thank you; I'm not going to take anything
this morning."
"Why not?" said Newman. "Why, I wouldn't miss
my coffee and strawberry jam for the world. Come
along; it will ballast you and keep you from being
light-headed."
"No; I'm not hungry. You can have my share of
rattan coffee and strawjuice jam this morning. I
never eat without an appetite."
"Nor I," answered Newman, "but I always eat. It
doesn't matter what you eat; it's how it tastes. I
have an empty place inside of me the size of the Unit-
ed States. This constant motion of the ship doesn't
give your appetite any rest. See you later. Wish you'd
come."
Pretty soon some one came stumbling along the
narrow passageway and exclaimed as he struck his
head or something against a partition:
"Ouch ! What to —11 did I get out of that infernal
bed for? I wish the Lord had made the waves some
other shape. I'd rather get out and walk home than
ride up every denied single wave in the ocean and
then slide back again. I always supposed that a boat
went forward instead of upward and downward and
sideways. Confound the boat! — I wish 'twould go
to the bottom. Twould serve the miserly Fruit Com-
pany right for putting people in such a drifting rat-
trap. I wish I were home. Home is good enough
for me. Whoo-oop!"
This periodic whooping reminded me how undigni-
fied people will act in the most conspicuous places and
FROM BAD TO WORSE 325
inopportune moments, and how often such unseemly
actions become contagious and spread like laughter.
The man had evidently rushed or staggered out to the
outer door as he uttered the last whoop. After
a short session of silent thought, I heard him walk
back to his stateroom mumbling between his teeth :
"The yellow fever is bad enough, but seasickness
is a deuced sight worse. The next time I want to see
a canal I'll look at the Chicago Drainage Canal. When
I want a change of climate I'll stay in Chicago where
it's always changing, and where it sometimes changes
for the better."
I took an ounce of dry sherry at nine-thirty and
again at ten, and soon after arose to give my bones
a needed rest. After some shivering from the unac-
customed cold, some unintentional collisions and gy-
rations about the room, and some expressions of opin-
ion about the luxury and healthfulness of sea voyages,
followed now and then by a short recess in my bunk
in order to press my bruised scalp into shape and allow
the whirl in my head to subside, I succeeded at last
in getting my winter flannels and heavy suit out of
my trunk and on me. As the result of the night's
wakefulness and the morning's exercise of bracing
and holding on while dressing, I actually felt a desire
to eat, and resolved to do it before I changed my
mind.
There were not many at table, for most of those who
had arisen early had already changed their mind. As
I couldn't conceive of anything worse than going back
to my cabin, I lay down on the cushioned benches
326 BACK.
along the wall of the dining-room and gained some
of the rest I had lost during the noisy night. We were
going ahead again but only at the rate of seven knots
an hour, were already nearly twenty-four hours be-
hind our schedule time, and were likely to lose an-
other twenty-four before reaching New Orleans. To
try to go faster would have put us in danger of break-
ing the screw propeller, of losing our loose rudder
and of cracking open at the part of our shell that had
struck on the reef. In fact, we had been voyaging
under conditions that according to natural laws and
insurance statistics should have resulted in a wreck,
and were content to be careful. Better two more days
of comparative purgatory than to take up hastily and
without preparation a longer residence in some more
uncertain place.
CHAPTER V
The Didactics of Seasickness
Breaking the Sabbath — Giving up — Humiliation — Beef Tea
Versus Coffee — A Disappointed Engineer — English with-
out Grammar — The Lecture — Pathology — She-sickness
— A Rebuke — Symptoms — A Homoeopathic Cure — The
Passive Treatment — A Reproach — Conclusions — A Sug-
gestion and a Vote of Thanks.
During the first day of the "norther" both the ship
and myself came through without any but threatened
accidents, although neither of us was seaworthy. The
next morning, however, my stomach broke the Sab-
bath and my pride had a fall. To arise early on Sun-
day is a bad habit ; we are commanded to make Sunday
a day of rest, I ought to have known better.
I arose in time for "coffee" and found the "norther"
breaking the Sabbath, but did not take the hint. I
stumbled out of bed and was precipitated across the
stateroom, balancing and plunging from door to wash-
stand and from bunk to trunk. I got one foot in my
trousers and fell over, tried it again and sat down
on the floor, holding on with my right hand while
I pulled up my left suspender, and vice versa. Sud-
denly my stomach felt as if it were going to break,
as the Germans say. I quickly ducked my head and
allowed myself to be thrown into my bunk, and called
327
328 BACK
up Christian Science, as I had successfully done the
day before. But it was Sunday and she wouldn't
work. It would have been a feather in Doctor Brow-
er's hat to have caught me. But he probably was too
busy himself to be out hunting for feathers. After
a short rest I took some sherry, which is not a calen-
dar saint, and it worked, for in half an hour I was
able to finish my toilet and go to the dining-room and
publicly drink a cupful of beef tea. The ship coffee
did not tempt me, which was a point in its favor. In-
deed, if all coffee were poor it would be better — it
would have less opportunity to do harm in the world.
I lay around in the dining-room after a light break-
fast and listened to instructive talks about yellow
fever, leprosy, etc., but was particularly interested
and enlightened by a non-professional Western gen-
tleman who had gone to Panama in search of a job;
one of those travelers who, like Walter Raleigh, had
never eaten with a fork. He claimed to be an ex-
perienced engineer (whether civil or locomotive, he
did not say) who had not been able to procure any
kind of work there with a larger salary than thirty
dollars a month, although Wallace was drawing much
more than that. Hence he had kicked some of the
mud off his feet and was on his way back to "God's
earth." He could not praise De Lesseps and the
French enough. The French employed white men
and paid them like gentlemen.
But the most interesting part of his long and loud
conversation was the illustration it afforded of how
the English language can be used to express vividly
THE DIDACTICS OF SEASICKNESS 329
and intelligibly all sorts of sentiments for hours at a
stretch without conforming to a single rule of gram-
mar. It was a most complete triumph of synesis over
syntax, of eloquence over elegance. How he had
learned to disregard the rules of grammar so uner-
ringly was marvelous. The unequivocal force and
fluent ferocity of his expressions afforded a striking
compliment to our self-made language. Foreigners
think that the English language has no grammar, and
it was the mission of the engineer to prove that it
could do without it. He expressed himself much more
clearly and impressively than a large proportion of
men do whose speech is all grammar. He said:
"Them French was cracker- jacks, and no joke.
They wasn't afeared to employ white men, nohow;
and they knowed how to treat 'em. The Amerikins
won't employ nobody but niggers or such as works for
niggers' wages. They'll never get the blamed banana
canal digged no way. They ain't nothin' doin', nor
won't be while them fellers is bossin' the job, and it's
up to you and I to show 'em up. A man kin go down
there and work until he pegs out, but he can't get no
pay fur it — only hell. The hull business ain't got
nuther head nor tail, it needs preorganization, and
that's what it ain't got. As to Wallace, him and me
ain't old cronies, but we know each other, and that's
enough." I concluded that he was a locomotive engi-
neer, a loco as the Spanish would call him.
As it was Sunday and there was no ordained
preacher aboard, and Doctor Senn wouldn't preach,
and Doctor Brower couldn't preach while the wind
330 BACK
blew, I delivered a medical lecture on seasickness, be-
lieving that the best way of benefiting them morally
was by material instruction. I felt that I could speak
from experience, and that there were those about me
who could appreciate from experience. We could at
least hold an experience meeting. I began:
"Seasickness may be defined as an uncertain attitude
followed by a certain act. It is one of the most ancient
and orthodox of known ailments. The Greeks called
it nausea or boatsickness, and it has changed neither
in name, in nature nor in the manner of manifesting
itself. It is thus as immutable as the Catholic religion,
although it depends upon the weather, which, during
the past few centuries, has undergone many changes,
like the Protestant. It resembles religion in that it
has no pathology ; it resembles disease in that it makes
people sick. It depends neither upon germs nor upon
imagination as do the modern orthodox ailments."
At this there was a murmur of dissent and slight
temporary inattention. Raising my voice, therefore,
like a lawyer, I proceeded:
"To illustrate: When a woman has hysteria she
wishes you to treat her, and not the disease; but when
she is seasick, she wishes you to treat the disease, and
let her alone."
Doctor Morrow, the tall, lardaceous, disgustingly
healthy and handsome-looking young doctor from
California, who could laugh more eloquently than he
could talk, interrupted me and wanted to know if it
wasn't ,y/i£-sickness that I referred to.
"No, sir," I said, "I refer to seasickness. Seasick-
THE DIDACTICS OF SEASICKNESS 331.
ness does not wear off during the daytime and does
not depend upon conditions within, but on conditions
without the body. In order that seasickness or Greek
nausea may exist there must be a boat and a breeze —
a zephyr, as the Greeks called it. Tis interesting to
note that the discovery by the Greeks that the disease
was a boat-sickness, or disease of the boat, led them
to personify the boat. And this is why a boat is called
she instead of it. The word nausea originally had an
h in it, and was spelled nau-she-a."
"Then the Greeks did consider it a she-sickness,"
butted in Doctor Morrow, who was still harping on
women — a man of one idea.
"Doctor Morrow, you have yet to learn the silence
of medicine, which, in practice, is as important as the
science. And as for the art, the Greeks would have
made a statue of Hercules out of you, and would have
given you muscle in place of fat, form in place of
speech, poise instead of avoirdupois. A want of si-
lence is often more meaningless than a want of speech.
The disease could not have been j/&£-sickness, although
if you insist on gender, you might call it her-sickness
since the disease can be said to affect her, but can not
be said to affect she. Both Greek and grammar are
against it."
He was silenced, even to his laugh.
"The symptoms are exaggerated but honorable
hiccups, a persistent but harmless disinclination to re-
tain food, and an indifference to danger that makes
one willing to be thrown overboard without having
the courage or energy to insist upon being thrown.
332 BACK
"The treatment is always successful, for the pa-
tients all get well. As an illustration of how a com-
plete cure may thus be effected I will relate the case of
a confessed homoeopath who, I am ashamed to say,
crossed the Atlantic in the same boat in which I did.
He prescribed for himself pure water taken accord-
ing to homoeopathic 'dilution/ viz., ten drops of water
in a tumblerful of whiskey, two tablespoonfuls to be
taken every half hour or two while awake. And he
continued thus taking water until we arrived at our
destination. I met him three days after, and asked him
if he had been seasick. He said that he had felt bad
since leaving the boat, but couldn't remember having
felt sickness of any kind on the boat. This was a
perfect remedy in his case, and the proper one for
those who believe in homoeopathy."
"Hear, hear!" "Y-o-u-reka !" "Down with homoeop-
athy," and other spontaneous applause greeted me
from all sides, and encouraged me to continue talking.
"But there is another class of cases and another kind
of treatment, viz., the passive or starvation treatment,
which is homoeopathy carried to its true and logical
end and aim.
"It consists in going to bed and eating nothing and
drinking water from a teaspoon until the boat has
given up plunging, or arrives at its destination. If
the patient is still able to do so he then arises and as-
sumes the activities and indulgences of life, and tem-
porarily recovers. This is the fat man's remedy. His
stomach is relieved of its fat and of its fullness. It
gives him the prolonged fast that his burdened sys-
THE DIDACTICS OF SEASICKNESS 333
tern needs and which he has not the self-denial and
fortitude to take on shore. It constitutes the benefit
of a sea voyage upon his health, and is the only obe-
sity cure worthy of trial, except the one employed by
Panama cabdrivers upon their horses.
"We have an illustration of the efficacy of the passive
treatment in Doctor Frank. He stays in bed and rests
his stomach. He neither eats nor drinks, yet not one
of you is improving in health as he is. It is the repu-
diation of our food and the ridicule of our remedies,
since the patient has nothing to do but not to eat and
drink. If his patients knew of this and had common
sense instead of blind faith, Doctor Frank would not
have to go to sea to starve. Our patients should
therefore know what we do, but not what we do not do.
For a lot of doctors to embark in a boat and have
everything their own way, and learn nothing and do
nothing about boat-sickness, except to get it, is a
reproach to our profession. You talk knowingly, but
you must remember that boat-sickness is not a mere
postprandial-ephemera. You ought to know that one
should not only fast on board but also on land before
boarding. How not to eat is an oriental delicacy "
Here I was interrupted with such long-continued
applause and discussion and such frivolous interroga-
tions that I concluded that they were unfit to be re-
formed, and did not wish to learn how not to eat. How
not to eat is one of the lost arts. In keeping with the
development of the culinary art, man's longevity has
diminished in 6,000 years from 969 down to 70 years,
and his teeth and appendix have been steadily dwin-
334 BACK
dling and will soon fall out. In a few thousand more
years another zero will be dropped from his age and
the world will contain babes only. But as my audi-
ence was unprepared for such a revelation, I closed
with the following short summary of my views :
"Therefore, seasickness is not a disease to be avoid-
ed, but a remedy to be taken. You have much to learn,
but much more to unlearn before you can tell the
world anything about it. You must become as babes,
and be unborn and born again before you can unlearn
and learn again."
"Every man to his berth/' shouted Morrow, who
was entirely devoid of a sense of humor. He regard-
ed my lecture as a joke.
A vote of thanks was passed with the request that,
if I should talk again, I take up the subject she-sick-
ness, which they considered more interesting and more
in my line. They were still harping on women, and I
resolved to cast no more pearls, remembering that all
big D's do not stand for doctor.
CHAPTER VI
The Last Day at Sea and the First on Land
A Bad Headache and a Bitter Dose — A Poem — The Singing
Cherubs — A Sign of Fair Weather — Promised Feasting —
Eating Oneself into Premature Old Age, and Starving
into a Ripe Old Age — A Delicate Question — A Business
Meeting — Drawing up Resolutions to Exonerate the
Captain — The Eads and Jetties — An Enjoyable Toilet —
A Hook Apiece — The Penalty of Early Rising — A Cold
Day — Discovery of the Preston — Unfavorable Compari-
son— New Orleans and Oysters — Absinthe — A Fraudu-
lent Automobile Ride — Advice to Young Men — A Cor-
rected Advertisement — The French Quarter and Legend-
ary New Orleans
The next morning was Monday, our last day on the
"ocean wave" and "rolling deep," with all its poetry
and pantomime. We were due at New Orleans Tues-
day forenoon and were happy in anticipation of soon
being back on prosaic land again.
When I awoke I knew that the "norther" was weak-
ening, for the motion of the boat was quite consistent
with an elaborate toilet, and produced no uncomforta-
ble sensations. In fact, the cool, invigorating United
States air made all of us feel lively and disposed us
to object to coffee and jam sandwiches as a substi-
tute for something to eat.
Everybody was well and on deck except Doctor
335
336 BACK
Waite, who had a headache. When I had about com-
pleted my elaborate toilet (which consisted not of any
extra finery, but rather of an elaboration and delib-
eration in the adjustment of the same old weather-
worn and salted-down garments), I opened my state-
room door just in time to be in at the finish of an in-
teresting sick headache. Doctor Waite had sent for
Doctor Hughes, one of those prescribing neurologists
who place their confidence in medicine rather than in
their Maker, who pursue their cases to death, and
dose them until they die. He wore a gentle, white-
haired, sugar-cure expression on his face, and suggest-
ed an overflowing fountain of professional kindness in
the tones of his voice. But he was giving her one of
those old-fashioned bitter draughts such as only neurol-
ogists know how to compound — not harmful but worse,
and which depend largely upon their taste to cure
the patient of all further desire for diseases or drugs.
She, womanlike, swallowed the dose as if it had been
the gospel. It was hardly down, however, before it
returned as if from a volcano, and threatening to
carry away the crown of her head. She was frightened
at the suddenness and intensity of the paroxysm and
disgusted by the terrible taste, or she would have no-
ticed the immediate relief that followed. In' her sud-
den fright she exclaimed:
"Oh, Doctor, you've killed me; you've killed me.
Ugh! This is terrible."
"Madam!" said Doctor Hughes in his soft and
gentle way, "you misjudge me. I may be a killing
man but I'm not a killing doctor. Ahem !"
THE LAST DAY AT SEA 337
Doctor Waite had to laugh at him; and her head-
ache passed off. She expressed a determination,
however, not to have another until she was safe at
home.
At the breakfast table one of the doctors, whose
identity I will not betray, read the following poem:
Low she lay with aching head,
Mingling moan with smothered sigh.
"Dose her," all the doctors said;
"Dose her, Hughes, or she will die."
Dosed her with his deadly stuff
Till she groaned, "My end is nigh."
Then the doctors said, "Enough!
Make her laugh, Hughes, or she'll cry."
"I'm a killing man," he coughed,
"But no killing doctor — see?"
She forgot the dose, and laughed.
She was cured, and */ was he.
Hughes-dee-dum and Hughes-dee-dee.
We had hardly finished criticising the impropriety
of thus making public the privacy of the sick-chamber
when we were startled by a hilarious hullabaloo out-
side, a strident inharmony of jubilant vocal sounds
emulating and imitating the cadence of song. We
looked toward the port-hole windows, and there stood
Fasting Frank and Heavenly Hughes leaning on their
elbows and smiling like cherubs, and singing popular
songs at. the top of their voices. I blushed at the un-
dignity of it. Doctors! Professors! Fathers! I felt
embarrassed. They would not have done it before their
22
338 BACK
families and patients. But I was glad to see them,
for I knew that if Doctor Frank had come out of his
hole in the wall fair weather and a calm sea had come
in earnest. The greeting we gave him was vocifer-
ous and as undignified as his behavior. His seasick-
ness had been a premeditated means of increasing
his popularity without exerting himself. He had fast-
ed himself into favor. To see him smile like a child,
and then howl like a Dervish after a five-days' fast
and close confinement, made us regard him as a suf-
fering hero who no longer suffered, although anyone
who couldn't eat could do the same.
We persuaded him to come in to "coffee," although
he declared that it was against his principles to eat or
drink at sea. He wasn't ready to be tempted yet.
"Tut, tut!" I said, "A cup of coffee and half a roll
can not upset you, now that the storm is over."
"Half a roll, man !" he cried. "Do you know what
it is to eat half a roll after a five-days' fast? Half a
roll! Do you know how good it feels to fill up a
complete and perfect vacuum in you when you get
started ? Do you know how good it feels to have your
stomach full of solid greasy food after it has been
digesting itself for a week?"
"Do I know?" said I. "It is the man who denies
himself that knows the joys of indulgence. To habit-
ually suffer from prolonged and painful hunger before
each meal, and always stop when you have taken a
few mouthfuls and your appetite is at its fiery zenith,
is the best training for the mad enjoyment of a full
and filling meal that I know of; and I know of it.
THE LAST DAY AT SEA 339
You are young yet. Wait until you get the gout and
you'll be thankful for half a roll. You're not rich
enough to appreciate half of a dry roll. Your time is
coming."
"Why, you're just the man I am seeking," he ex-
claimed. "I am hunting for a fellow who is as starved
as I am and as you look. When we get to New Or-
leans to-morrow morning, we will have an oyster
supper, postponed from to-night; at noon we'll have
an oyster supper for lunch, and before we take the
night train to Chicago we will have another oyster
supper. Just think of it, if we were not thirty-six
hours late we would have the three suppers in us
now."
"Doctor Frank," I said, "you are going to make
yourself sick in earnest, for on land you will not have
seasickness to cure and curb you of your overeating.
I will eat these three suppers with you and get my
stomach full for once — and then swear off forever."
Here Doctor Morrow interrupted me. "Full for
once? Full forever, you mean! You have only been
full once since we left Bocas — you have kept at that
sherry between meals and claret at meals "
"Doctor Morrow, I refer to food — food only. On
dry land I drink neither sherry nor claret, only water
at different temperatures and dilutions. I am glad
to say that I am not as you are. I do not intend to
harden my arteries and bring on premature arterio-
sclerosis by overeating. You eat twice as much as
you ought to eat every day of your life, except when
you are 'off your food/ as the result of it, and when
340 BACK
nature evens up by forcing you to fast. I intend to
curb my appetite. To make use of a paradox, I might
say that I am going to starve myself to a good old
age."
"You've done it already."
"Look here, Morrow, you're a great man, thanks
to your appetite. But beware ! A man is also as old as
his appetite makes him. You'll die of old age by the
time you are forty. If I had your appetite I'd have
been dead ten years ago. You are the most unprom-
ising insurance risk here except Doctor Newman, who
was never made to be an old man and knows it, and
who can thus eat himself to death with impunity.
There is hope for the others. Doctor Frank fasts
occasionally, and thus postpones the day of reckon-
ing. Doctor Senn is smoked through and through,
and smoked bodies undergo no farther change or de-
cay. Doctor Brower is water-soaked, and water-
soaked timber sometimes lasts a long time. Doctor
Hughes and I are drying up, and when we are thor-
oughly dried we will last longer than any of you."
"How about me ?" asked Doctor Waite.
"I cannot pass upon your case, for the nour-
ishing and keeping qualities of eggs are uncertain.
In a cold climate you might live quite a long time."
While I was talking, all had left the dining-room
except Doctor Waite, who arose to follow them. I
knew that she was exceedingly conscientious and
truthful, and I determined to ask her a question about
a matter which was troubling my conscience.
"Doctor Waite, you have asked me a question ; may
I ask you an equally important one in return ?"
THE LAST DAY AT SEA 341
"Why, certainly, Doctor, and I shall try and be as
frank as you were when I asked mine."
"I merely wish to ask you if you have noticed
anything wrong about me?"
She said she had noticed that I had been in a crit-
ical state of mind ever since we left Colon.
"In a critical state? Is that so? Am I as bad off
as that?"
"You have raked us over the coals pretty badly."
"Is that so ? I often do things badly. I'll try and do
it better hereafter. But have I been acting out of
the ordinary? Has my articulation been distinct? I
sometimes talk without listening to myself, and "
"And so do not always know what you are saying,"
she said with a little laugh. "Well, if I must speak
out I should say that you are talking somewhat unin-
telligibly now. I hadn't paid enough attention before
to notice it."
"Well, I feel very much obliged to you for not
noticing it. There is no harm in talking unintelli-
gibly when you are not noticed. I wish I knew wheth-
er I have been enjoying myself or not. Having a good
time is much more unsatisfactory when you don't know
it. At home I have a good time working hard, but I
know it; on this voyage I have worked much harder
at having a good time, and didn't know I had it. At
home I shall work off this tired feeling. In fact, I
should have explained before "
"Never explain anything to a woman, Doctor. Ex-
planations and arguments never convince us. We are
apt to take them as jokes to be laughed at."
342 BACK
"Well, women are right. They laugh much more
effectually than they reason. To laugh at us is one of
woman's rights. And we laugh with them to show
that we approve of woman's rights. But I merely
wanted to get an honest professional opinion, and
didn't know how. They are so hard to find. I have
been calculating how much alcoholic liquor I have
consumed since landing at Colon a little over two
weeks ago. I have drunk half a pint of whiskey, two
quart bottles of beer, three quart bottles of wine and
a quart of soft drinks. Think of the mixture ! I have
kept on drinking regularly and have not, to my knowl-
edge, been intoxicated. I have felt well during the
whole time until now, but now I'm beginning to feel
bad. What I want to know is whether I have been
irresponsible during the whole time and am just be-
ginning to clear up, or whether I have been sober the
whole of the time and am just beginning to feel the
effects of all I have taken."
She again laughed three or four notes as she an-
swered :
"Well, there has certainly been something unusual
about you, but whether it was due to the disturbance
of the liquid in the sea or in the bottles I will not at-
tempt to decide. In the first place, I never saw you
so critical in Chicago as you have been on board. In
the second place, you have been offering and recom-
mending wine to ladies, which you never do in Chi-
cago. In the third place, you have criticised my eat-
ing, which no other gentleman has done."
"Thank you," I said. "I'll do it as a doctor here-
THE LAST DAY AT SEA 343
after, not as a gentleman. As a return favor I will
ask of you not to speak of my condition to any one in
Chicago. I suppose the delegates all know of it. But
I'll shut their mouths; I'll treat them in New Or-
leans, etc."
"But, Doctor, they would refuse to take treatment.
They will not be sick on dry land. Sherry will be su-
perfluous there."
She finally got away from me and my questions,
and went to prepare egg-nogs for the convalescing
ladies. She beats the world making egg-nogs — for
ladies. Men don't like them.
Later we held a business meeting of the passengers
in the dining-room in order to give substantial ex-
pression of our gratitude to the gentlemanly crew of
the S. S. Brighton for our rescue from the reefs in
the lagoon of Chiriqui on a dark and rainy night ; also
to the captain who had so successfully stood the trial
of his first trip as a commander and had consulted
the heavens so diligently for us, predicting stormy
weather with unerring accuracy. We feared that the
adventure of the reefs might be used by his enemies
and the United Fruit Company as an excuse for de-
priving him of his command of the smallest, most
rickety and most sure-to-go-down boat of the line.
We also took up a subscription which netted each
man of the crew a dollar for having risked his life
for us when the boat struck and stuck on the bottom
where it really belonged.
We then drew up the following resolutions in honor
of the captain, to be presented by him to the United
344 BACK
Fruit Company. We made them strong and striking
in order that they might not be put aside unnoticed:
"WHEREAS, the S. S. Brighton did, between the night
of Jan. 10 and the morning of Jan. n, 1905, come to
rest on a reef in Chiriqui Lagoon, and thus imperil the
lives of her passengers and the reputation of her cap-
tain;
"WHEREAS, the S. S. Brighton was not made for
man but for bananas;
"WHEREAS, in a time of danger, when the moon and
stars failed and darkness prevailed, when the pas-
sengers were suffering from the fear of death and the
feeling of nausea, the captain was cool and collected
and waited in patience until the sun arose and the cock
crew and the ship forced its way backward into deep
water ;
"WHEREAS, we deliberately and of our own free
will, chose the said Brighton, and were thus respon-
sible for our mistake, and the company of its own
free will chose the captain and is thus responsible for
his mistakes;
"WHEREAS, we should not have been caught out at
night in the absence of the heavenly bodies, or of the
phosphorescence of the waves, or of the fireflies of
the beach to indicate to the negro pilot where we were
at;
"THEREFORE, be it resolved that we, the benighted
and bereeft passengers of the S. S. Brighton, do hereby
express and extend our thanks to the captain and the
ship for successfully getting us off the bottom and
out of danger;
THE LAST DAY AT SEA 345
"RESOLVED, that we assume the blame for the acci-
dent in that we added weight to the ship and worry to
the captain;
"RESOLVED, that we promise nevermore to put this
responsibility upon the ship, but will stay at home
and attend to our own affairs;
"RESOLVED, that we beg clemency and favor for the
gallant captain, and that he be given a pilot who can
see in the dark;
"FINALLY, we, the survivors of the last but not
least eventful voyage of the S. S. Brighton, do peti-
tion that the ship be enlarged as fast as possible, that
basins be attached to the pillow-ends of the bunks,
that the allowance of wash water be doubled, that the
electric lights be not put out at midnight, that evap-
orated cream be provided for coffee instead of con-
densed milk, and that bananas and bric-a-brac here-
after be carried to the exclusion of passengers.
"Signed."
There was a prolonged discussion as to whether we
should all sign these resolutions individually or wheth-
er merely the president, Doctor Brower, and the sec-
retary of the meeting, Doctor Morrow, should sign
officially. The secretary was finally forced to sign
them alone.
We were to arrive at the jetties at 10 P. M. accord-
ing to the captain's consultations with the heavenly
bodies. Now if the captain had any shortcomings it
was not a lack of devotion to the heavenly bodies,
which he consulted frequently and fervently. But he
never succeeded in fixing correctly the time of arrival
346 BACK
anywhere. It was I who had faith in the heavenly
bodies, yet never consulted them, who could prophesy
unerringly. Whenever the captain announced the time
I added two hours. So when we were told that we
would arrive at the jetties at 10 P. M., I knew that we
would arrive at midnight.
About half of the passengers had never seen the jet-
ties, for on their trip to Panama they had passed out
of the river after bedtime. And now that they were
to enter the river after dark they were inconsolable.
Next to Panama they desired to see the jetties, about
which they had heard and read so much. They asked
all sorts of questions about them; what jetties meant,
what Eads meant, what jetties and Eads looked like.
The sun sank in Oriental splendor behind his green
and golden bedcurtains as we went to dinner, and the
unfortunates complained of the sun for setting before
we got to the Eads and jetties. They blamed the cap-
tain for not having sailed faster during the storm
in order to arrive before sundown. They were not
content with having escaped the dangers of the reef,
as well as having kept the rudder and saved the screw
and crew during the storm. With them the jetties
were the thing, the dangers passed were nothing. Who
cares for dangers that are passed? They wished that
they had waited for the Preston, or that the Brighton
would anchor outside all night.
We told them that they could sit. up and see the
lights, and so could tell everybody that they had seen
the Eads and jetties.
As they kept on asking what the Eads and jetties
THE LAST DAY AT SEA 347
looked like, they received various answers. Some said
they looked like lighthouses on piers ; others that they
were like Greek temples covered with electric lights;
others said that they were nude figures of lions bearing
immense candelabra on their heads and electric lights
on their tails; others said that they were a narrow
channel running out at sea — mere longitudinal space.
When we got through answering them they were dis-
couraged, for they would not be able to describe the
Eads and jetties to their friends at home.
They, of course, took the captain's word that we
would pass the jetties at 10 P. M. and paid no atten-
tion to my assurance that we would pass them at mid-
night. At ten o'clock they were gaping and shivering
on deck like tired ghosts on a moonless night, and
wished they had gone to bed. By eleven it was
evident that I had told them the truth about the
time of passing the jetties, so they placed a sentinel
to watch the Eads and jetties and report what he saw,
that they might describe them to their friends.
I enjoyed making my toilet the following morning
as I had not for a long time. To be able to stand still
and stretch both arms above my head leisurely and
without danger of falling; to be able to gape without
having a tooth knocked loose by an approaching shelf
or edge of a bunk; to be able to get the right foot in
the right trouser leg at the first attempt; to be able,
while washing, to stoop down without a head-on dive ;
to find both shoes on the same side of the room, and
my clothes hanging on the nail just as I had hung them:
these were luxuries that made me forget my previous
348 BACK
misery. Reaction from misery is, after all, the best
substitute for happiness. Real happiness is too rare
and impalpable, and is enjoyed in the past and future
only.
Doctor Senn and I each had one hook upon which
to hang our overcoats, heavy suits, belts, hats and
the garments we removed at night. And I was glad
that there had been no occupant of the sofa bunk to
share these two hooks with us, for there would then
have been no alternative but to throw our city clothes
overboard where they would have been better pre-
served. I never knew to how much use one hook could
be put until we tested the possibilities on the Brighton ;
nor did I realize the condition clothes could get into
from hanging in a bunch upon one nail for a week.
At "coffee" I found the whole company. Those who
had sat up and shivered while watching for the "Eads"
and jetties looked hollow-eyed. The vigilants had
retired at eleven o'clock, but had lain awake a long
time with disappointment and cold feet, and had arisen
early, famished and unrefreshed, and had shivered and
shifted about cold corners and corridors for a couple
of hours waiting for lukewarm coffee and jam to start
the depressed circulation through their congealed
capillaries.
Although it was a cold January day and ice had
formed during the night, the river looked beautiful in
the morning sunlight as we came nearer to New Or-
leans. Doctor Waite was even more enthusiastic in
her appreciation than were the ladies who were not
doctors, a thing which I could not understand. I
THE LAST DAY AT SEA 349
always had supposed that a busy surgical life would
take nearly all of the womanly out of a person. I
had often observed such an effect upon others as well
as upon myself.
When we arrived off the docks of the United Fruit
Company the first thing we noticed was the S. S.
Preston, the large boat that had not arrived at Colon
when we left, and for which we did not wait because
we wanted to save time and avoid the crowd. We
expected the delegates to return in it en masse and
crowd it until it would become more uncomfortable
than the smaller, unpopular boat, the Brighton, that
detestable little, breakdown little, slow poke of a rat-
trap which no one was supposed to take, but which
nearly every one did take. The Preston had sailed from
Colon two days later than the Brighton and had ar-
rived at New Orleans two days earlier. On a sched-
uled five-days' trip she had beaten us by four days.
She had provided a stateroom for each passenger or
married couple, had not struck a reef, and had only
broken one sailor's leg — which didn't signify as Doc-
tor Palmer was there to set it immediately. She had
kept her screw in the water and her deck out of the
water, and thus had allowed passengers to eat, sleep
and wear dry clothes. Some of us felt like blowing
up the Brighton and the United Fruit Company, one
with dynamite and the other with damning it.
We arrived at the docks in time for me to take
the morning train for Chicago and thus escape Doctor
Frank and his three deadly oyster suppers. But the
suspicions of Uncle Sam had to be allayed, and before
350 BACK
we had signed papers and suffered the -conventional
derangement of our baggage and bric-a-brac, the
train had gone and I was doomed to eat oysters and
drink gin fizz and absinthe with a starved man. It is
not pleasant, after you have eaten more than you want,
to sit half an hour or so and watch a starved man giv-
ing way to the eager ecstasy of slowly oncoming re-
pletion. It seems to be the uppermost desire of every
one upon arriving at New Orleans to eat a dish of
oysters. In fact, it is remarkable what an amount of
enjoyment the human being gets out of what it puts
into its stomach, forgetting that an organ which af-
fords such universal and almost continuous enjoy-
ment deserves, like Hamlet's "Players," to be well
used.
After satisfying our curiosity by taking a silver
fizz, a drink which had made a reputation for a cer-
tain saloon in New Orleans, Doctors Frank and New-
man and I had our eleven o'clock breakfast (the post-
poned oyster supper) at a French restaurant near the
St. Charles. I myself could only eat half a dozen of
those large and luscious oysters, but I will not de-
stroy the reader's good opinion, if he have one, of
my comrades by telling how many they ate. How-
ever, we finally stopped eating, promising ourselves
other oyster meals before the time for the evening
trains to depart, and went to a saloon in the French
quarter to increase our knowledge by taking a drink
of the absinthe that had made New Orleans and this
saloon famous for twenty years. I swallowed my
dose and pretended that it was good. Absinthe makes
THE LAST DAY AT SEA 351
people lie. It is the essence of seasickness and men-
dacity, and good only for those who, like horses, can't
get sick at the stomach and can't tell the truth. When
I have an enemy I will treat him to absinthe, but I
will not drink it with him. Doctor Frank liked it
on account of its reputation, just as his patients like
him. Doctor Newman looked at his emptied glass
and grunted, then rolled his head solemnly from side
to side and opened his mouth as if he were going to
say something important; but nothing came out.
In the afternoon after all hands had had their oys-
ter lunches, we were attracted by the "sight-seeing
auto" standing in front of the St. Charles. Circulars
were scattered about, advertising "Two delightful
tours daily and Sunday, leaving St. Charles Hotel
daily at 10 A. M. and 2 P. M." I have thought it
worth while to print a copy of the advertised descrip-
tion of the tour in order to show the reader how
quackery flourishes and is respected in business life
as well as in professional. I formerly supposed that
the medical, legal and sporting professions were the
only ones which could successfully impose their frauds
upon the public, but I am now hunting for the only
profession or business that does not. I would advise
all young men to divide the business public into two
classes, viz., enemies and friends. The former will
want his money to enrich themselves at his expense;
the latter will solicit it to ruin both him and them-
selves— but him at any rate. Above all he should be-
ware of the latter, that his money may not ruin both.
35*
BACK
DESCRIPTION OF TOUR
THE largest automobile in the world takes its way through
the modern business and residential sections of New
Orleans as well as that most mystical and picturesque
part known as the "French Quarter." Here every square has
its realistic or legendary lore and here will be seen the de-
scendants of the French and Spanish noblesse and that pecul-
iar type of American civilization — the Creole of Louisiana.
Below are given a
FEW ATTRACTIONS
St. Charles Hotel.
A Ride Along the Great Levees.
Canal Street.
Steamboat Landing.
The Custom House and Post Office
(Corner stone laid by Henry Clay) .
Liberty Monument.
Building costing $4,000,000.00.
Lafayette Square.
Henry Clay Monument.
Mississippi River Packets.
Algiers.
Immense Sugar Refinery.
Jackson Square.
Former "Plantations of the King."
Place d'Armes.
Royal Street.
City Hall (1850).
New Court House and Jail.
Orpheum Theater.
Y. M. C. A. Building.
First Sugar Refinery »n Louisiana
(1794).
Statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Lee Circle.
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.
St. Louis Cemetery No. 2.
St. Louis Cemetery No. 3.
Pickwick Club.
Chess Checker and Whist Club.
Building in which Mardi Gras Balls
are held.
OP THIS TOUR
Statue of Benjamin Franklin.
Statue of John McDonough.
Beautiful St. Charles Avenue.
First Presbyterian Church.
Home of the Famous "Sazerac
Cocktail."
Old French Market.
House where Gen. Lafayette was
entertained.
Old Basin.
Carondelet Canal.
Most Ancient Cemetery in New
Orleans.
Monument to Gen. Jackson.
Bourbon Street.
First Church to be built in Louis-
iana.
Building in which transfer of Louis-
iana Purchase was made to U. S.
Old Antique Shops.
Ancient Court House.
Old Cabildo — house of Spanish,
French and American Govern-
ments.
St. Louis Cathedral (first built in
1718).
Famous French Opera House.
Old St. Louis Hotel (now Hotel
Royal).
Tulane and Crescent Theatres.
Cotton Exchange.
Boston Club.
THE famous auto passes these and many more points of
interest, traversing the historic byways ,and grand
boulevards of this quaint old city. An expert guide
accompanies each tour and points out each interesting feature
and tells of the past grandeur and romance and the future
greatness of New Orleans.
ONE DOLLAR— THE ROUND TRIP .
Leave St. Charles Hotel
Seats Reserved in Advance. Telephone, St. Charles Hotel News Stand,
Main 1600
THE LAST DAY AT SEA 353
There was a fifty-cent touring auto that started
once a day from the corner of Canal and St. Charles
Street, but the best was none too good for us (as the
sequel proved) and we chose the dollar tour because
the price was higher and the advertising circulars
more numerous.
The description should have commenced thus:
"The largest and most old-fashioned and used-up
automobile takes its way at a snail's pace through the
modern business and residential sections of New Or-
leans as well as that most delusive and dilapidated
part known as the "French quarter." Here every
square inch has its realistic or legendary lore of which
our guide knows not a thing and says not a word —
therefore don't bother him with questions. And here
will be seen the descendants and decadents of the
French and Spanish noblesse — and great has been the
descent — and that peculiar type of American civil-
ization, the Creole of Louisiana. All of these things
and many more will not be pointed out to you.
"The infamous auto passes by these and many more
points of no more interest, traversing the historic
byways and grand boulevards of this grand old city.
A pert guy accompanies each tour and puts out each
interesting feature, and says nothing about the pres-
ent, and knows nothing about the past grandeur and
romance, and the future greatness of New Orleans."
If the company will change the circular to read as
I have corrected it, I will recommend it as an honest
one trying to live up to its advertisement. Otherwise
I must condemn it as a corrupt Philadelphia company.
354 BACK
a buyer of cast-off automobiles and off-caste young
men, which are sent to far-off cities to play tricks
upon visitors. The company runs automobiles in
Washington and Philadelphia as well, and sends unin-
structed strangers to act as guys and guides. They
depend for their success upon the reputation of some
of the well-conducted tours in other cities, notably
Chicago. They avoid trouble by collecting the fares
before they start.
On our way through the French quarter Doctor
Frank tried in vain to get a single word from the guy
about "the past grandeur and romance" or the "legend-
ary lore," or about the history of the places. The
guy had never studied history nor read the news-
papers, and had not even learned to speak a little
piece about either history, legend, romance or "rot."
He could not even tell a lie. He pointed his finger at
a few business houses, pronounced the names of clubs,
and showed us the charred walls of a club house that
had been burned the day before, and pronounced it
the latest thing in ruins. He showed us the house of
a rich man, and when we came to the oldest Protestant
church he stood up and said, "This is the First Pres-
byterian Church," and sat down. When we got back
he also showed us the New St. Charles Hotel, and we
knew at least that he was giving this last "attraction"
its right name.
Should any reader doubt the truth of my words let
him ask Dr. J. Frank of Chicago, whose stomach was
full after his five days of fasting, and who therefore
felt in a mood to be pleased with anything half way
THE LAST DAY AT SEA 355
entertaining or reasonable. He will say that I have
not told the truth, but only a portion of it, and he will
probably complete the recitation of the truth and give
it some of the color that belongs to it. He was anx-
ious to learn something about the town, but learned
nothing. He would even have been glad to tell the guy
a thing or two about historic and legendary New Or-
leans, or to give him a piece of his mind, if the fel-
low had been capable of appreciating either thing, or
anything. The fellow didn't know what he saw and
probably would not have understood what he heard.
Anyway he did not care to see or hear. He was sat-
isfied with himself and his salary, and we had not the
heart to interfere with his happiness, as he had with
ours.*
*In justice to the local Manhattan Auto-Car Co., whose office is at 211
St. Charles St., I wish to say that I was again in New Orleans in December
1907, and had a satisfactory ride in one of their vehicles. Our guide,
whose name was Ryniger, was as lively and full of information as the one
described above was stupid and ignorant. Those who take the trip should
select his car.
CHAPTER VII
Traveling North by Way of the South
Off for Chicago — Trying a Southern Railway — The Sleeping-
car Mattress, One of the Luxuries of the World — Court-
ing Sleep — Astonishing Discovery of Daylight — Spur-
ious Insomnia — Missing a Cold Bath — A Strange Stranger
—Mobile— The Battle House Restaurant — Patriotic Cof-
fee— Delicacy Versus Flavor — Five-cent Cafe"-au-lait —
Milk Versus Cream — Central American Bitter Coffee —
Cereal Coffee— The Best Substitute— The Stranger and
the Conductor — Compelled to Keep a Saloon in His
Own House — Hugging a Young Lady — Tears and the
Bottle — The Capital of Alabama — Mismanaging a Cigar
— Putting His Boots to Bed — More Ice-water — Cakes
and Lemons — Breakfast on the Train — An Unaccount-
able Disappointment — Drowning Sorrow in Drink — The
Great American Treating Habit.
After our oyster supper my comrades started for
Chicago via the Illinois Central Railway, and as I
was committed to the Louisville and Nashville route,
we parted company. My train was scheduled to start
at 8 P. M., but a train which was to connect with us
was indefinitely late, and as we could not safely go
backward in the dark in search of it, we had to wait.
Finally the expected happened, the loiterer arrived,
and we started off at a soothing pace that put me to
sleep. At home where I had a comfortable bed, a
quiet room and everything my own way, I couldn't go
356
TRA VELING NORTH 3 5 7
to sleep like that. In Chicago the pace is too fast.
Fortunately I had taken the precaution to ask the por-
ter to call me at six o'clock, that I might breakfast
at a genuine U. S. hotel in Montgomery, where the
train was to rest from seven to nine.
I awoke and turned over a few times in the course
of the night, as one does on sleeping-car mattresses.
I did it, however, just to feel how soft and comforta-
ble the mattress was, and to congratulate myself. Any
one who does not appreciate a sleeping-car mattress
can learn to by taking passage in the S. S. Brighton.
Let him ask the purser, steward or any of the officers
of one of the small fruit boats about the Pullman mat-
tress. Let him serve on one of them for two or three
years and then try the Pullman bed. If I were a Car-
negie, a Peter Cooper, or any other conscientious mul-
ti-millionaire, living or dead, I would create a fund
with some of the money I couldn't enjoy in Heaven
or on earth, for the purpose of enabling all employees
of fruit boats to live on land. Why do not the fruit-
boatmen strike for better beds? Workmen on land
strike for everything they want, and get it; and ev-
erybody tolerates the general inconvenience of it. We
are all willing to help.
I noticed after two or three waking spells that the
train was always stationary, but inferred that it was
the stopping that disturbed and wakened me, for I
was not accustomed to sleeping without noise and
motion. After a time I became convinced that I could
not go to sleep without their assistance, and waited
impatiently for the train to begin its rumbling and
358 BACK
bumping motion. As it did not start I concluded
that it had stopped to take a long rest at Mobile, where
it was due at n 140 P. M., and that the time of day
was therefore the middle of the night. I felt like
blaming the Southern railroads for the way they al-
lowed their express trains to lie around on side-tracks
all along the line, waiting to miss connections, instead
of hustling to make time and accommodate nervous
people. I criticised them for their schedule habit of
leaving New Orleans at 8 P. M. in order to loaf about
Mobile and visit for two hours at Montgomery. My
train could just as well have left at midnight and have
given me an opportunity to go to the French opera
with Doctor and Mrs. Palmer and have an oyster
supper with them afterward, as to pretend to leave at
eight, lie waiting for late trains until after nine, then
shuffle off like a tramp-train and constantly wake me
by standing still. A sleeping car should not try to
imitate a bedroom in a country hotel.
I strove to become accustomed to the quiet and to
will myself to sleep. I kept turning myself over like
a pancake that must sooner or later get done. I
turned on my side and tried to snore myself off. But
snoring loves an audience, and I didn't have any. It
occurred to me that I was kept awake by the enjoy-
ment of the to me unusual comfort of the bed, so I
turned on my side and put my under arm behind me
to keep myself from being too comfortable. When I
couldn't endure that position any longer I uncovered
my head to be able to hear what was going on, and
thus listen myself to sleep, but there were no noises.
TRAVELING NORTH 359
I threw down the cover and tried to keep cool, but
the car was warm. I tried all of the stunts known
to insomniacs, from complicated and inverted meth-
ods of counting to the solution of problems and the
composition of scientific lectures, but they only made
me hungry. Apparently I had not eaten oysters
enough in New Orleans to last through the attack,
so I ate two apples which I happened to have in my
overcoat pocket. But eating never did agree with
me, and I became more wide awake than ever. In
bed I was no better off than an ordinary millionaire.
His money could not buy Nature's gift to the poor,
and my science could not produce it. I knew that we
were not lying at Montgomery or it would have been
daylight and the porter would have called me. Hence
I concluded that my arrival in the United States had
brought back my old insomnia and that there was no
remedy for it but expatriation or a sailor's life.
Finally I became utterly discouraged at having lost
almost an entire night's rest, for I was too much of
a veteran to expect any more sleep that night. So I
sat up and pulled aside the window curtain to see if
there were any signs of dawn. To my astonishment
I let in bright sunlight. The window curtain had fit-
ted so tightly in the window frame that the usual
morning ray of light had not penetrated. I had mis-
taken the shimmer of light about the edges of the
curtains for the night lights of the station. I rang
for the porter and asked him why it was daylight.
"Dunno, sah," he answered, " 'cept it's eight o'clock,
and we's waitin' heah at Mobile foh a broken bridge
to git mended."
360 BACK
All of my insomnia had evidently been since about
6 A. M., and after eight hours of sleep, or two hours
more than my average when I am sleeping well. I
now knew that I had acquired the insomnia habit, and
was destined to be a victim of insomnia no matter
how well I slept. A bridge over which we were to
pass was disabled, and by waiting until it was repaired,
instead of going right along regardless, like a North-
ern express train, we missed a cold morning bath —
being given no chance to choose between the bath and
the extra nap. The train ahead of us had taken our
bath. But like all dyspeptics who fret before arising, I
felt consoled and cheerful after getting up and letting
in the sunlight and realizing that the world was still
getting on all right.
As the bridge could not be sufficiently repaired for
traffic until noon, I concluded to make the best of the
situation and hunt up a good cup of coffee. Mobile
was the capital of the French possessions in America
200 years ago, long before old New Orleans was
born. In the antebellum days Mobile was the hot-
house of the Southern aristocracy and is now one of
the richest towns in the old South in proportion to its
population. I would find a good cup of cafe-au-lait in
Mobile.
While I was making my toilet, a man of about sev-
enty years, with scant white hair and delicate features,
entered the dressing-room with a pint bottle of whis-
key in his hand, and addressed me cordially.
"Have a drop, stranger?"
"Is it French coffee ?" I asked.
TRAVELING NORTH 361
"No, it's Kentucky corn juice. Try some?"
"No, I thank you. I always begin the day with a
drink of pure water."
"And end it with a drink of pure whiskey, eh? I
commence with water too, but I can't take it pure be-
fore breakfast."
After taking a stomachful of equal parts of whiskey
and water, he warmed up and became talkative. He
told me he had boarded the train at midnight and had
awaked in the morning at the same place from which
he had started. He said the train had held its own
and hadn't drifted any, and that he had known it
wouldn't; but he had engaged his berth to sleep in
and was going to fulfill his part of the contract like
a law-abiding citizen.
I told him that this delay was only one of many
mishaps that had befallen me, that I had experienced
nothing but delays since I had left home six weeks
before, and would arrive there nearly a week behind
time. I had been singularly unfortunate.
"Young man!" he exclaimed in a startling, sepul-
chral voice that quivered slightly, like that of an ora-
tor giving a cue to the emotion he is about to evoke.
"Young man, you don't know what you are talking
about."
"You're right," I answered; "I have had insomnia
since six o'clock this morning, and my bearings are
a little bit off. I never complain of real troubles, for
they are blessings in disguise. They are good for us.
Fancied troubles are the blighting ones."
"Suppose that you had been kept away from your
362 BACK
home on account of your health for three months, and
were now called home to a dying wife, and couldn't
make any better progress than I have since I started
last night? You don't know what real troubles are,
young man."
Here he took another drink of his poison and I
expressed as much sympathy as I could, considering
the novelty of the exhibition, and started out in search
of my poison, viz., cafe-au-lait.
I confess that I was considerably surprised at the
old-fashioned provincial aspect of the town, and con-
cluded that it was a better place than it appeared to
be. Like New Orleans, it had a good harbor, had
wealth, was the seaport of a prosperous Southern
state, and imported bananas ; yet it looked to me very
much like a large country town of one business street.
It belonged to the older generation of cities, already
in a senile stage of existence. But the old aristocrats,
who had been too proud to engage in commercial pur-
suits or to encourage their sons to do so, were nearly
all dead, and the town, under the influence of new
ideas, was beginning a new life and taking on new
growth and development. So I resolved to test her
with cafe-au-lait, and hurried out in search of the
Battle House of antebellum fame. I finally found a
shabby old building that had seen better days, with
an unexpectedly aristocratic-looking restaurant under
it full of well-dressed negro waiters, who bowed and
scraped and ran on tiptoe as they always do where
the tipping system is in vogue. It was the waiters'
way of announcing the fact to their victims. But the
TRAVELING NORTH 363
poor fellows (the waiters) served them (their vic-
tims) with a sort of feverish anxiety, and served them
well and swell, and thus almost justified the system.
My waiter was not, however, as good a Frenchman
in scholarship as in manners, for although he under-
stood my order for an omelette, he did not under-
stand "cafe-au-lait," or "coffee with hot milk." Hot
milk was too plebeian — cream was served in his res-
taurant.
After a long wait my breakfast came. The omelette
was good, but the rolls were American biscuit rolls,
damp, soft, lukewarm and flavorless. And the hot
milk was in a tiny lunch-counter pitcher that held less
than two tablespoonfuls. The coffee was clear and
unadulterated, and therefore genuine United States
made coffee. When U. S. makes coffee that is clear,
U. S. thinks she has made coffee. She uses good or
bad Mocha and Java in moderate quantity, but in or-
der to make it clear she puts an egg in it which hard-
ens about the grounds before the full flavor has been
extracted, and thus much of the flavor remains at the
bottom of the pot to be boiled out and developed for
the servants and the waste-pail. Then the drinker
covers up the taste with rich cream, thinking that the
flavor, being covered up, cannot get away. Such cof-
fee is comparatively harmless to the commonwealth,
and on that account deserves its popularity. It is one
of the few popular things that are harmless.
One of the advantages of cafe-au-lait is that the
proportion of the two ingredients can be varied to
suit the taste or idiosyncrasy of the drinker. Those
364 BACK
who can not drink strong coffee can diminish the pro-
portion of coffee with milk until but little coffee is
used, and those who can not drink full strength milk
can reduce the quantity of milk until but little milk is
used. The palate will soon become accustomed to
what is habitually drunk and may finally be taught
to prefer either dilution.
I ate my breakfast and my hunger was appeased;
but as I had started out to get a hot drink rather than
something to eat, I was not satisfied, and the enjoy-
ment of the meal was incomplete. I do not wish to
say anything derogatory to the Battle House restau-
rant, for the hotel has died since (was burned up) and
therefore deserves to be eulogized. In fact, I wish
to praise the restaurant on patriotic grounds. It made
American coffee and deserves praise for being Ameri-
can instead of French, which in itself is the highest
praise I can give. But it did not occur to me to feel
patriotic at the time. The temperature, following the
"norther," was 36 degrees F., the most chilling and
unpatriotic temperature of the whole Fahrenheit sys-
tem, and as I went out into the street my thoughts
were still upon a good, hot, comforting cup of coffee.
I therefore resolved to try again, and finally found a
low-down restaurant on the corner of Royal Street
near the station and got a cup of their cheap coffee,
probably ordinary South American or Central Ameri-
can, which might have been thickened and blackened
by a little chicory. It was not as clear and delicate
as that of the Battle House, but it had more flavor.
I asked for hot milk and when I had diluted the coffee
TRAVELING NORTH 365
nearly one half, the mixture still had flavor. I could
have drunk three or four cupfuls. The charge for it
was five cents. The price was the only bad thing
about it, and I almost felt un-American at having
enjoyed five cents so hugely. I felt humiliated, but
I felt good.
The Central American coffee is quite bitter when
well made. I was told that in order to develop the
bitter flavor the Central Americans burn the coffee
beans when they roast them, and thus render it more
bitter than natural. This scorching takes away some
of its delicacy of flavor and renders it unpalatable to
many North Americans, but by using plenty of sugar
when it is taken black, or by diluting it with an equal
quantity of hot unskimmed milk and using but a small
quantity of sugar, its bitterness is modified and it
has a richness of flavor that makes it preferable to the
so-called Mocha and Java as ordinarily made. It
differs from ordinary U. S. restaurant coffee as cham-
pagne from cider. But, of course, many prefer cider.
Cereal coffee is possibly a good substitute for young
people whose nerves are more easily injured than their
stomachs. But for middle-aged and old people it is
too heavy, for the amount of starch in it which must
be swallowed without mastication tends to produce
acid fermentation in the alimentary canal and hasten
the advent of gout, which is the goal of all good eaters
and drinkers. Cereal coffee has just one excuse for
existing, but I've forgotten what it is. Old-fash-
ioned chicory has more flavor and is less fermentable,
and therefore is preferable for both the young and
366 BACK
old. Pure coffee contains no starch and not enough
tannin to injure a canary bird, and the stimulation
of moderate coffee drinking is not very injurious to
people past middle age. The only real contraindica-
tion is youth — but youth is always contradictory. Next
to the sugar put into the coffee, the most injurious
feature is the manner of drinking it, viz., sipping it
while eating, and thus washing down food that should
be chewed until dissolved and washed down by the
saliva.
But the best solution of the whole coffee problem
is to sip a glass of hot, slightly salted milk at the be-
ginning and another at the end of the meal, and to eat
the meal dry between them. If persisted in to the
exclusion of coffee this hot milk habit will after a time
take away all desire for coffee drinking, which is a
habit of civilization and a very ancient and barbarous
one. But many of us who consider ourselves civil-
ized have barbarous tastes and habits, and do not wish
to relinquish them. We bequeath the refining of our
barbarous tastes to posterity — to our heirs. Let them
fight over them, as they do over the other things.
After the train had finally pulled out I heard the
sleeping-car stranger telling the sleeping-car, conduc-
tor of his misfortune and the reason why he had been
obliged to stay away from his home, which was in
Hyde Park, Chicago. He said he couldn't stand the
cold there, and that it was impossible to get a hot
drink within walking distance of his house.
"Just imagine," he said, "living in Chicago and not
being able to get a hot drink ; to have to keep a saloon
TRAVELING NORTH 367
in your own house. There is something wrong about
a community that makes every man keep a private
saloon."
"You're right, sir. There must be something wrong
about a city that can not provide saloons enough for
its citizens. They must be tea-totalers," replied the
conductor sympathetically.
"Yes, and every one of 'em is tanning his stomach
with tea and coffee. Serves 'em right. Let 'em tan
it, damn it! By the way, conductor, did you see the
fun a few minutes ago?"
"No, what was it?"
"I hugged a young lady, and she didn't object.
Yes, sir, I did it. As I was passing her in the aisle
she stumbled against me and I had to hug her to keep
from being knocked down. She begged my pardon
and I excused her, thinking that honors were even,
ha, ha!"
"We'll be looking for an elopement, next," sug-
gested the conductor.
"No," he said, "my tongue is the only thing that
would run away with me now."
After thus dwelling a while in a facetious manner
on the details of the romantic adventure, and repeat-
ing himself many times, he suddenly remembered
what he was there for and began to talk tearfully
about his wife, and pulled out his bottle and went
into the smoking-room for water. The old man was
as young in his feelings as the day he was born — he
had a saving sense of humor. Those who are not
gifted with a sense of humor are born old ; those with
368 BACK
it die young. Notwithstanding his troubles, the old
man was dying young.
We arrived at Montgomery at 5 P. M. and had to
change cars in order to catch the train that had left
New Orleans in the morning, twelve hours after we
had. By this time the old gentleman was dull and
heavy and did not wish to get off. He had paid for
his berth expecting the car to go on to Chicago, and
insisted on keeping it. He said that he had fulfilled
his part of the contract. They put him off, however,
and I left the poor old fellow in the station while I
went out for a stroll through the. main thoroughfare
of the picturesque little capital of Alabama in the
heart of the South. It is a busy-looking place of about
30,000 inhabitants, with crowded streets and attrac-
tive-looking stores that seemed to be doing plenty of
business. Following the main thoroughfare, I soon
came within sight of the state-house, which showed
off to great advantage on the hill at the head of the
street. Beside it I found the Confederate Soldiers'
Monument, which was a credit to the state from a
confederate point of view. It even created strong
feelings of admiration and sympathy in me, a lifelong
republican and sinner.
When I returned to the train at half past six the
old Hyde Parker, who was forced to keep a private
saloon in his own house, came aboard with a full
stock of wet goods in his system and a fresh stock
in his pocket. He sat in the smoking-room trying in
vain to crack jokes and smoke a cigar. His ideas
were muddled and he had lost the knack of managing
TRA VELING NORTH 369
a lighted cigar. He did not put the wrong end in
his mouth nor miss his mouth, but he repeatedly
dropped it, let it go out twice, chewed the end off,
burned his fingers and finally threw it at the cuspidor,
missing his aim and scattering the ashes on our feet.
Two young men, who seemed to be commercial
travelers, took a kind-hearted interest in him and of-
fered to help him to bed. But the septuagenarian
did not know the number of his berth and could not
find his ticket. He had left it in his overcoat and did
not know where his overcoat was. One of the young
men went to the porter, found the overcoat and num-
ber, and had the berth made up. He himself had un-
doubtedly helped and been helped to bed on sundry
occasions in the past and was willing and qualified
for the deed of sympathy. When he returned the
old man was offering to fight three of us. I knew
that it was one of the Hyde Parker's tipsy jokes,
but the others, not knowing him as well as I did,
took him seriously and insisted upon putting him to
bed. They were preparing to use kindly force if nec-
essary. He then started to unlace his shoes in the
smoking-room and, upon being told by the astonished
young men not to take them off there, he said that he
wanted to put his shoes to bed first, and asked how
they could get to bed unless he put them there. Real-
izing that they took him in earnest, he went on in that
way for a while before he allowed them to lead him
off. He was not too far gone to have a little sport
with them.
The next morning when I entered the dressing-room
24
370 BACK
his empty whiskey bottle lay on the washstand under
the ice-water faucet, indicating that he had been to
the water already, and he sat near the window eating
sponge cakes out of a paper bag. He was sober and
thoughtful and did not seem to be enjoying his break-
fast. I had a few limes left from the stock laid in at
Bocas del Toro and was sucking one.
"If you would suck one of these limes/' I said, "it
would give a fine lemon flavor to your cake."
"Lemons don't taste good, and they don't agree with
me," he replied with a sort of grimace.
"But I have studied foods and digestions for a quar-
ter of a century, and know what tastes good and di-
gests well. That cake is too sweet. Just try a lime
with it."
"Stranger," he said, "I have tasted and digested
food for nearly three quarters of a century and knew
what tastes good before you were thought of."
"Surely you must have been mistaken all of this
time," I said, "or you would agree with me, for I
am a physician and have learned all about taste and
digestion. Hereafter, before deciding how a thing
tastes, ask me."
"Well, Doctor, I'd like to know how whiskey
tastes."
"Like poison," I answered.
"Well, I feel just like taking poison, and the poi-
soner the better," he said as he arose and started for
the water tank.
I allowed him to poison himself while I went out
to the dining-car for breakfast. When I returned I
TRAVELING NORTH 371
found him smoking a black cigar and looking quite
pleasant. The poison had reached its cerebral des-
tination and had overcome the melancholy tension.
He asked me how the breakfast had tasted.
"Why, you have been eating breakfast for three
quarters of a century and ought to know/' I answered.
"I've lived just long enough, Doctor, to learn that
eating breakfast before working for it is a bad habit
that follows civilization."
"I agree with you there. It is a mere matter of
taste after all. As a doctor I eat breakfast before I
work, not because it is a bad habit, but because I am
a doctor, and must know how it acts in order to be
able to treat others who do it. I eat to learn."
"And I suppose they charged you a dollar for the
lesson, for learning how it tasted?"
"No," I said, "this isn't a dollar car. Meals are
served a la carte. You can get all you want for less
than a dollar, unless you have an officious waiter who
puts on so much style for you that you feel ashamed
to take back what is left of your dollar. If you are
a grapefruit faddist your breakfast costs a quarter
more. Or if you are rich and don't know any better
you can take sweetened grapefruit, breakfast food
smothered with sugar, an omelette with jelly, melted
butter on toast, coffee sweetened into syrup, griddle
cakes served with honey and milk, and Apollinaris
to wash it all down, and can spend a couple of dollars
and lay up disease for the future, as the lady and gen-
tleman across from me were doing. I had a fine large
piece of broiled white fish, with Saratoga potatoes,
372 BACK
cornbread, two cups of coffee and a pitcher of hot
milk, all for eighty cents, less than double the price
of a common restaurant breakfast."
"You have to pay something to keep the wheels
going around," he remarked.
"Yes, and for the comfort and convenience/' I
answered. "It's worth it. You can get chops for
fifty cents, a tenderloin steak for sixty-five cents, or
eggs for twenty cents."
The old man's eyes opened wider and he began to
swallow saliva as I continued:
"They have a fine list of specials on the bill of fare
this morning: Spanish omelette, hashed chicken with
poached eggs, shad's roe with bacon, and a lot of
dainty dishes at popular prices."
He put down his cigar and said, "I say, stranger,
I'm getting hungry for something good to eat, even
if I don't know what tastes good. I believe I'll go in
and try it."
When he came back I asked him if he had had a
good breakfast.
"Yes, I had breakfast," he said, and maintained a
gloomy silence.
Whether my glowing description had led him to
expect too much, or whether the prices were unsatis-
factory, or whether he had been taken with one of his
facetious attacks and had gotten himself into trouble
with the decorous and decorative dining-car conduc-
tor, or whether his domestic troubles had gained the
ascendency and spoiled his breakfast, or whether a
good meal did not agree with him as well as a good
TRAVELING NORTH 373
drink, or whether it was getting too far past the time
for another "smile," or what not, I could not ascer-
tain. So I left him alone with his full stomach and
empty bottle and went to my seat in the sleeper.
When I returned a little later he was saying to two
men who were smoking with him :
"Gentlemen, I can't help speaking of it. I have
been buried in the pine woods for three months and
am now going home to bury my wife. Oh, it's hard!
Where's the porter? I must have another drink."
We tried to dissuade him and refused to join him,
but he got his drink in spite of our efforts.
"It's hard, gentlemen. I remember how when my
mother died, my father called my brother and me to
him and said, 'Boys, your mother is dying. She'll
never sit at the table with us again, never again.'
And to think that now I am going home to tell my
boys the same thing. Oh, it's hard! I must have an-
other drink. I can't stand it."
His voice was broken with emotion and his eyes
full of tears as he tried to persuade us to take a drink
with him, but he had to take one alone. We had no
excuse for getting drunk. We could not say, Joliet
like, "Drinking is such sweet sorrow, that I shall
keep on drinking till it be morrow."
By noon he had taken five drinks that I knew of,
besides having finished his own bottle before break-
fast, and was again telling jokes. He had a specific
remedy for grief.
The old man was a true American in his feelings
and actions. He had hesitated about paying a dollar
374
for a breakfast on wheels with its flying luxuries,
and was not ashamed to be frugal in his diet, yet had
spent more than a dollar since breakfast for drinks,
and had offered to "treat" like a prince. And the
fact that he was on his way home to the bedside of a
dying wife was not sufficient even temporarily to break
up his drinking habit. Surely we Americans are
creatures of habit, especially of the treating habit,
which leads to the drinking habit. We are the most
hospitable people in the world. In other countries
people treat and entertain for a purpose; we do so
without a purpose.
CHAPTER VIII
Did You Have a Pleasant Trip?
Home at Last — Too much Tropics — The Hold-up — Ex-
plaining about It at Home, per Telephone, at the Hos-
pital, at the Office — The Time of My Life — An Exhaust-
ing Office Hour — Easier to Stay at Home — A Formu-
lated Answer — Its Nauseating Repetition — Talking It
over with Another Victim.
I arrived at home late in the afternoon tired out
mentally by six weeks of discomfort and change of
habits, and weakened physically by bodily inactivity
and continuous tropical heat. Even the enjoyment
of the medical meetings was associated with loss of
sleep and overwork of the digestive organs, and did
nothing to rest the mind or invigorate the body.
I was in that excitable state of mind that usually accom-
panies an impoverished state of blood in active people.
And when my wife asked me if I had had a pleas-
ant trip I had to go into considerable unpleasant detail
to enable her to ask me why I went.
By the time I had divested myself of the dust and
dilapidation of travel, my son, who was as large as I,
but not as old, came home and startled me with the
information that he had been held up by two footpads
at eleven o'clock the night before on the corner of
Drexel Boulevard and Forty-sixth Street.
375
376 BACK
"How dared you?" I exclaimed. "And within
half a block of home. How did you do it?"
"Oh, it was easy enough. I ran up against the muz-
zle of a pistol and they did the rest."
"But you should not have done it — you are too
young. I am two and a half times as old as you, and
I haven't done it yet. / never ran up to two footpads
on a deserted boulevard at 1 1 P. M. One should always
reserve such experiences for the future. Don't you
know that it's dangerous to get frightened in that
way?"
"Oh, 7 wasn't frightened. They were frightened.
They were in such haste to run away that they only
took my carfare and pocketbook."
"So they took your carfare, your last nickel. It was
a mean trick. They ought to have been shot."
"No; they were quite decent and friendly. When
I asked them to give back my fraternity meal ticket,
which was all my pocketbook contained, they said
'Sure!' and handed it out to me. They did not even
take my fraternity pin which was in plain sight."
"Good for them! Fraternities originated among
thieves, as fraternity methods indicate. They showed,
however, that there is something good about frater-
nities by sharing your pocketbook with you. I sup-
pose that they also returned your watch ?"
"No; they didn't find it for I do not carry my fob
by night. In their hurry they forgot to feel of
the watch pocket in my pants."
"Don't say pants, Heath; say trousers. Or, if you
will talk Dago, say pantaloons. Pants and panties are
DID YOU HAVE A PLEASANT TRIP 377
undignified abbreviations. One would think that you
had been fraternizing with footpads all of your life."
"And they did not discover my ring, which was
concealed by my glove."
"Well, my son, now that you have accomplished
your object in coming home so late of nights, I hope
that you will consider that you have no further excuse
for making the street pavements work by night as
well as by day. And I trust you will also profit by
the example of your fraternal footpads never to do
things in a hurry, even when you are doing wrong.
How did you get away from them?"
"They told me to hand over my bills. But when
they learned that receipted bills were the only kind
I had, they told me to run. I said 'Sure !' and ran.
And they ran in the opposite direction as fast as they
could. I ran to Forty-seventh Street and saw a po-
liceman as far away as I could see toward Fiftieth
Street, walking toward me."
"Well, I congratulate you," I said, growing calmer
as I realized that he had had a useful experience, one
that is not vouchsafed to every college boy. "You are
smarter than your father ; your business horizon is not
bounded by the payment of bills. You came out ahead
in your bargain with the footpads; you gave them a
nickel and they gave you a meal ticket. Keep on
getting the better of people and you will die rich. I
discovered the method too late to adopt it as a prin-
ciple. If I had my life to live over again, I would
take a lesson from you. But don't forget to profit by
this experience, viz., to wear gloves when you wear a
378 BACK
ring, and to spend all but your carfare before coming
home at night."
He then asked me if I had had a nice time while
away. After I had explained to him that I had not
derived as much of a sensation from my six weeks
and hundreds of dollars as he had from his five min-
utes and a nickel, my younger son arrived and asked
me the same question, and thus made another expla-
nation necessary.
Dinner was then ready. After dinner my married
daughter called up my wife by telephone and asked
her if I had had a pleasant trip. My wife answered:
"Oh, yes; but he is very tired. Traveling is so
tiresome, etc., etc.," and thus evaded a direct answer.
She couldn't tell a lie, and she wouldn't tell the truth.
A little later Doctor Doering called me up and
asked me if I had had a pleasant trip. I explained
in detail how storms at sea and the inevitable and
invariable miscalculations and misconnections of
Southern travel had interfered more or less with the
accomplishment of the objects of my medico-social
holiday enterprise.
The next morning I stopped at the Woman's Hos-
pital and met Doctor Martin, the great medical hand-
shaker, at the hall door. He stepped up to me with
a radiant accentuated smile, shook me thoroughly
and said:
"Why, hello, Byford! Did you have a pleasant
trip?"
He had me by the hand and is stronger than he
looks. Hence I could not quickly get away, and pro-
DID YOU HAVE A PLEASANT TRIP 379
ceeded to explain that I had seen the place where it
was thought that the canal was going to be dug, and
where it was thought that the meeting of the Medical
Congress had been held, and was more or less satis-
fied with my trip, particularly with the getting back
end of it.
After a few other evasive answers, applauded by
genuine shakes, I escaped from his grip and ran al-
most into the arms of the housekeeper. She stopped
a minute, looked at me with animated eyes and an ex-
pansive smile and said:
"Why, Doctor By ford, how do you do ? Did you
have a pleasant trip?"
"Why — y-yes, very pleasant — that is — considering
that I had to be away from the hospital and my work.
Very pleasant, but quite warm and sunshiny, thank
you."
I escaped up stairs, but Doctor Steele stood grin-
ning at the top. "Why, how are you, Byford? Did
you have a pleasant trip?"
"Yes, of course. It was a great success and I got
back safely. I met the Panama women and the Pan-
apa men and saw the site of the Panamanana canal
and many other strange sights."
I hurried away toward the wards as if very busy,
although I had but one patient in the hospital. She
was there when I left for Panama, and had apparently
waited, womanlike, to ask me the question, for there
seemed to be nothing else the matter with her. But
she paid me for my answer and was welcome to it.
Before I could escape from the building Doctor
380 BACK
Paddock caught sight of me in time to stop me. He
slowed up for a good talk, and exclaimed in his hail-
f ellow-well-metest manner :
"Why, Byford, how are you, old fellow? Did you
have a pleasant trip?"
I threw up my right hand in Patrick Henry style
and cried as I rushed by him toward the door:
''Did I? I had the time of my life, the very time
of my life! Ha, ha!"
I shot out of the door, lost my footing, and slid
all the way down the icy iron steps, reckless of life and
limb, and was off for my office. It is strange how one
will forget one's dignity and risk one's life for things
and people that don't pay. One should never lose
one's patience, or one's equilibrium in a hurry.
At the office the young lady attendant greeted me
effusively (more so, I thought, than the mere fact
that I had come to keep my regular office hour really
called for), and wanted to know if I had had a pleas-
ant trip.
"The time of my life ; the very loveliest time of my
life," I said, and locked myself in my private room.
On account of having returned later than I had
announced, I had an unusually large number of pa-
tients that morning. Each one delayed me at the end
of the consultation by politely and kindly asking the
question. Evidently they considered it a sort of tail
or tale to the consultation, as a dessert belongs to a
dinner or a wag to a dog.
Before I had gotten through with my patients Doc-
tor Isham caught a glimpse of me as I ushered one
DID YOU HAVE A PLEASANT TRIP 381
of them out, and rushed into me and shook my hand
with the spontaneous cordiality of true politeness. He
said that he did not wish to take up my time while
patients were waiting, but just wanted to ask me if I
had had a pleasant trip.
"Why, sir," I said jubilantly, "I just had the time of
my life, that's all. Banquets, highballs and fancy
balls enough to drown us and bury us and decorate
our graves. The Panamanians spent $25,000 on
twenty-five of us in four days, and seven of the twen-
ty-five were from Chicago. Chicago got a third, and
probably more. In short, we had a hot time. If you
don't believe it, go to Panama next Christmas and find
out."
After thus beating time for a while longer I got
him out. When I had taken the "dessert" with my last
patient I felt quite exhausted, for, as I have intimated
before, life in the tropics thins the blood and softens
the muscles, and thus had diminished my powers of
endurance. While there I had not felt the need of
good blood and firm muscles, but upon assuming ac-
tive duties in zero weather I missed them. When,
therefore, I started for home I was in a neurasthenic,
irritable state of mind. As I passed through the re-
ception-room the sister of the office attendant, who
happened to be there, smiled and bowed to me and
wanted to know if I had had a pleasant trip.
"What's that?" I said, less ceremoniously than I
intended.
"Did you have a pleasant trig, Doctor?"
"Oh — why certainly. Why not? Do you suppose,"
382 BACK
I said gaily, as I backed toward the door, "that I
could travel 2,400 miles and spend $25,000 in four
days without having a pleasant trip? Just spend
$25,000 and travel 2,400 miles in four days and you'll
know what a pleasant trip I had; you'll have the time
of your life. Then every one will ask you if you had
a pleasant trip, and you'll have the time of your life
again. Good day."
And so for several days my life was dominated by
this conventionality of polite speech. It would have
been much easier to have staid at home than to have
gone through what I had, viz., five days of sickness
on the S. S. Limon; one night on the seasick Italian
steamship; nearly two weeks in the blood-hot city
of Panama, dodging mosquitoes and not daring to
light the candle in my bedroom, laboriously tucking
in the mosquito bar all around every night in the dark,
and hiding under it for three hours in the middle of
each day ; perspiring continuously ; bathing in a wash-
bowl; forced to eat and drink two banquets daily,
that kept me thin ; treating and being treated to high-
balls half a dozen times daily, that made me sick;
being cheated by Chinamen, that made me ashamed;
having to see a brave rooster murdered and a tame
bull tortured and assassinated; spending a week
stowed away in the S. S. Brighton, while rocked by
the trade-winds, tossed by a "norther" and bedeviled
by insomnia ; becalmed for twelve hours between New
Orleans and Chicago; losing a bunch of keys, two
umbrellas, five handkerchiefs, my railroad ticket, a
ten-dollar bill and a necktie fastener; being caught
DID YOU HAVE A PLEASANT TRIP 383
fifty-five times in the rain and once in the water, — and
then having to write a book about it. But to be asked
forty times a day for forty days, "Did you have a pleas-
ant trip ?" cured me of all desire for travel. Travel and
travail are of the same origin. The next time I want
to go to Panama I will stay at home and read about it,
and then talk about it. Let others who care to go, read
my book instead. The book isn't half as bad as the
trip, and nobody will ask them about it, and thus they
will not be obliged to tell lies about it. In order to clear
my conscience for all time, I formulated an answer
that I chose not to consider a lie. I replied to every-
body thus, "Pleasant trip? Why, I had the time of
my life. Read my book about it — 'tis just like it."
But even the repetition of the formula became as
nauseating as forty squabs (or squalls) in forty days,
and I sometimes made myself ridiculous by invent-
ing uncompromising variations. But finally I learned
to be patient, and now feel that my trip to the tropics
was worth while, for it finished the development of
my character. I have become a man of patience, and
say nothing whenever I feel as if I ought to talk
back.
I met Doctor Brower on the street one day and
asked him if he had had a pleasant trip. He stopped
breathing for a second and looked at me queerly, but
finally smiled.
"Byford, do you know, I have heard that remark
before."
"Shake!" said I. "Misery loves company. I sup-
pose that you have become a confirmed liar by this
384 BACK
time, and are writing a text-book full of lies and bad
advice."
"Well, it's terribly monotonous," he answered, "to
have to repeat to every one you meet what a fine time
you have had. But our trip was not such a very bad
one after all."
"What? Come now, you don't have to lie to me.
You're overdoing it. Beware of the lying habit."
"Well, it wasn't very sweet but it was short. You
ought to travel with Doctor Senn to the North Pole,
Lake Baikal, Vladivostok, tropical India, and every
other God-forsaken place on the footstool. You'd
consider this trip an interesting little nightmare to be
laughed at and forgotten, when compared with the
prolonged punishment of trotting around the globe
after Senn, whose legs are made of solid steel. But
I've done with Senn as a traveling companion. His
notion of joy and mine are constitutionally different.
Something is wrong with his idea of enjoyment. I
can't diagnose his case because he has no nerves.
There's something uncanny about him. He can't be
discouraged, killed or made seasick. I've no patience
with him."