"Oh," the other will reply, "it serves to kill time, but is rather foolish." What queer things you find in books! And how much alike many of the famous ones are. "Adam Bede," "The Manxman," and "The Scarlet Letter," were all written around an "idea" that is unnatural, unclean and absurd.
Wednesday, April 23.—We are in a wider part of
the Red Sea today, and are not meeting so many ships;
the few we have seen have been far away. Yesterday
we were in a part of the sea almost as narrow as a
river, and we could not avoid meeting all passing vessels.
At one time last night so many brilliantly lighted
ships were in sight that we were reminded of a night
parade of electrical features at a celebration. . . .
We have had a strong head-wind all day which travelers
pray for in the Red Sea, and toward evening the
"Burgermeister" acquired considerable motion. . . .
The English passengers on board organized a Sports
Committee this morning, and are now busily engaged
in arranging for such elevating sports as "In a Pig's
Eye," "Are You There?" potato-races for women, etc.
The traveling Englishman has lately gone crazy about
ship sports; he is like a Methodist who believes in
sanctification by baptism: he will talk of nothing else,
and insists on arguing the question with you. In
England, only cheap people at country fairs engage in
such sports, but on English ships, dukes and princes
are expected to take part, for the honor of Old England.
The German passengers are not enlisting for the sports,
