"DER KAISER WILHELM DER ZWEITE"
You have crossed the North Atlantic too often to be bothered with an
account of our trip. We ate too much--indeed, I am told the
temptation to do so is greater on these boats than on any except
those of the French Line--and also we took too little exercise. And
yet we seem none the worse for it! Possibly that was due, in my
case, to the fact that I slept a great deal, and that when I was not
sleeping or eating I lay in my deck-chair and wondered how any one
could ever worry! Is it not surprising how the petty worries of life
drop overboard at Sandy Hook? This cannot be true, I suppose, of the
foolish men who keep in touch with the office by wireless, but it was
true of us. Yet one day I was startled by hearing my name called by
a page, who ran along the deck with a slip of paper in his hand.
Fortunately, it was only a word of greeting from the Stoddards, who
were returning on the _France_, and sent us a message of good-will.
I did, however, have certain experiences which were unusual. The
first night out I was sitting in the drafty and fearfully decorated
smoking-room when a man approached me and asked if I would take a
hand at poker. I declined politely but he insisted, urging that it
was "only a friendly game, twenty-five cents a point." I again
declined, saying I did not play. He returned to his friend and
remarked in a loud tone: "De trouble mit men who hafe lifed all der
lives in a village is dat ven dey meet a stranger, dey tink he must
be a con man."
On Sunday morning we were wakened by the band, which played,
beautifully, "Ein Feste Burg." I supposed that would be the only
Sunday observance, and was not a little surprised to receive a
message from the captain, asking me to hold service in the Lounge.
This I did, the full band assisting. There were a number of
Americans aboard, and most of them attended. But what surprised me
greatly was to notice a number of Jews, several of whom later spoke
to me and expressed their satisfaction. They said that they did not
know that we used the Old Testament in our service! I asked one of
them, a cultivated man, if he attended the synagogue. He shook his
head sadly and said, not since he was a boy, unless it were to go to
a funeral, and added that this was true of thousands of cultivated
Jews. I said it seemed to me a dreadful thing that the race which
had given the greatest spiritual gifts to mankind should be losing
interest in the highest ideals of life, and asked if it were not
possible for them to find in some form of Christianity, which, after
all, was an evolution of Judaism, the satisfaction their souls must
crave. He looked at me for a moment, and then said bitterly: "If
Christians began by treating us as if we were human, perhaps we might
be willing to listen to their gospel of brotherhood." I wonder if,
instead of a Society for the Conversion of the Jews, we do not need a
Society for the Conversion of Christians!
This service was memorable for another reason. For the first time in
my life I prayed for the Kaiser. Indeed, it was the first time I had
ever heard him prayed for! This gave great satisfaction to the
German-Americans, who, while they are glad to enjoy the liberty of
the Republic, their hearts, without doubt, certainly many of them,
are with the Fatherland. They may, some day, become a menace to us
should we ever have trouble with Germany. But that is not likely in
spite of our experience in Manila Bay! But, indeed, I do not see why
we should complain of them when we think of the attitude of the
English who make their homes with us. How many Englishmen of the
better class do you know who have been naturalized? Not a score, I
venture to say. They write letters to the English papers, and
sometimes to our own, complaining of the iniquities of Tammany Hall,
but do not lift the burden with one of their little fingers.
However, you will have had enough of this! How inevitably we parsons
take to preaching when we are not fooling!
We reached Plymouth on a lovely evening and glided into the harbor as
quietly as you bring your knockabout to its mooring. I was much
impressed by the discipline of the crew. There was neither shouting
nor confusion, and the great ship dropped anchor as quietly as a
ferry-boat comes into its slip. One thing, however, surprised me.
As soon as we entered the harbor a sound of firing was heard, and
little water-spouts shot up all over the surface of the water. They
were evidently harmless mines being exploded from the batteries on
shore. Still I wondered they did not cease while the captain was
engaged in such a delicate operation, and it did not seem in keeping
with the English sporting spirit. I spoke to one of the officers
about it, and he replied, with much dignity: "The English do this
each time we enter one of their harbors. It does no harm, and is
only a childish way of showing their hatred of our merchant marine,
which is their only serious rival. But it is a mistake, as they will
some day learn."
Of course there may be no truth in this, and the explosions at that
particular time may have been only a coincidence, but it is sad that
such bad feeling should exist between these two great nations as to
make it possible for such things to be believed. The Germans are
talking most foolishly about "Der Tag," but English plays and novels,
and even such a paper as the _Spectator_, are helping to sow the
seeds of suspicion. That in this day England and Germany will go to
war is, I believe, thought possible only by the "retired admirals."
But the mere suspicion leads to fear, and that, in turn, might lead
to war.
Well, here I am talking politics, which is more tiresome than
preaching!
V