Get a yard and a half of unbleached glazed linen and bind it all round with wide red worsted braid. Put this into the trunk with a good long shawl-strap, also your umbrella and parasol. One black parasol with white lining will do for every dress, and look as if it were made for each one in particular. You will not need any of these things on the voyage, so you can put "Hold" in large letters on the trunk, and that will insure you against the temptation of opening it on the steamer. When you arrive at the end of your ocean journey, you will appreciate the comfort of having everything to your hand directly you open your trunk.
Rest for one night (at least) at the place of landing, whether Queenstown, Liverpool, Havre, or elsewhere, and have your soiled linen washed. If at an English port, you will probably go on to London for your first sightseeing; if at Havre, your destination will probably be Paris. In either case you will find it pleasant to stop over night at one or other of the most attractive towns on the way, and for your greater comfort you will take out one complete change of clothes, viz., a fresh dress and some under-linen, and your lace-trimmed wrapper. Spread the afore-mentioned "linen wrap" out smooth, lay your dress lengthwise in the center first, then put the other things on top (lengthwise also), and lastly your umbrella and parasol. Fold each side of the linen cover over so as to nearly meet in the center, and then roll up from end to end, and put your shawl-strap around it. This, and your dressing-bag, is your baggage when you expect to be away from your trunk for a few nights. Send the trunk on by petite vitesse, or ordinary freight, to your ultimate destination. It will make an appreciable difference in your expenses, and like a thoughtful friend it will be waiting for you on arrival, and will have secured a room at the hotel to which it has been addressed. By following this plan you will always have a complete change with you, and will be relieved from the bother of looking after a trunk while on your journey. The hotel manager can always tell you about forwarding your trunk, and the porter of the hotel will attend to the matter. And now let me tell you about my hand-bag and what it contains.
The best satchels, and the most convenient, are those which open very wide and display their contents without obliging one to hunt for each little article needed.
Fold a nice clean night-dress in a piece of paper and place it in the bottom. It is a great comfort to have such a necessity so handy in cases of late arrival at hotels, great fatigue, and possible accident. Don't forget a clean towel. A good-sized sponge, in a water-proof bag long enough to contain a tooth or nail-brush (some of these bags have a separate pocket for the brushes), have a piece of soap in a tight metallic soap-box; one good-sized bottle of cologne-water or bay rum, well corked; one powder-box, with cover screwed on firmly; one medium-sized hand-mirror; a small bag (with drawing string), into which you have put plenty of buttons, spools of silk, thread, needles, and thimbles.
One thin blotter containing writing-materials, and which is small enough to lay flat against one side of the hand-bag, and can be slipped in and out without disarranging the other things, small bottle of ink, with screw or spring top, a couple of pens, and plenty of pencils. Comb and brush in a bag made for the purpose out of a dark silk handkerchief or a piece of chintz. Silk is the best because it will not so easily catch the dust. There is always a little pocket on one side of bag for a paper of pins, a button-hook, and hair-pins, also a pair of scissors.
Put everything back after using, and make your handbag your catch-all in the state-room, and when the weather is rough you have only to close it and so keep everything secure and in its right place. When going a journey by rail put in your guide-book and a magazine. Also, a common fan on top to be easily reached.
For a becoming head-covering to wear in railroad carriages, and to keep the dust from your hair when you wish to rest your head, which often gets tired from wearing a hat for several hours, take a gentleman's small-sized silk pocket handkerchief, of becoming color, and trim the edges with some cheap black Spanish lace, gathering it round the corners so it will lie flat and round. Fold it crosswise, and lay it with two corners on the top of the head, and tie the other two together either under the chin or back-hair. Then make two little pleats on each side of the head near the temples, making it fit the arch of the head nicely, and you will find that it is very comfortable, and takes up little room in your bag.
CHAPTER VII.
DAILY LIFE AT SEA.
On shipboard you may rise as early or sleep as late as you choose, provided you do not extend your slumbers beyond the breakfast-hour; you are not by any means compelled to get up when the bell rings, but it is best to do so unless prevented by illness. You will find the fresh air of the deck invigorating, and a better appetizer than all the cordials or other stimulants in the possession of the bar-keeper, and besides, the room-steward desires to put your cabin in order sometime during the forenoon. Time is kept on shipboard by "bells," and those who wish to show their familiarity with the sea are in the habit of dropping the ordinary nomenclature of the hours and reckoning by the sound of the bell. The nautical day begins at noon, and all calculations regarding the movements of the ship are made with 12 M. as the starting-point. A little practice and observation will accustom the landsman to "ship's time," and afford him a slight distraction when inclined to think the voyage a monotonous one.
The bell strikes every half-hour from noon to noon again, the even strokes representing complete hours, and the odd numbers the half-hours. The marine day is divided into "watches" of four hours each, with the exception of the period from 4 P.M. to 8 P.M., which forms two divisions of two hours each, known as "dog-watches." The object of this arrangement is to prevent the same men being on duty at the same time day after day, as they would be if the whole twenty-four hours were divided into unbroken watches of four hours each. The crew is divided into "watches" that relieve each other every four hours, with the exception of the "dog-watch" just described. These divisions of the men are known as starboard and larboard, or starboard and port, and each watch has an officer in charge of it. The captain does not "stand his watch" like the other officers, and when the weather is fine and everything lovely he has little to do. But when a gale arises, or the ship is enveloped in fog, it is a time of great anxiety for him, and sometimes there are days together when he hardly leaves the bridge for more than a few minutes at a time. The prudent passenger will avoid speaking to him during this anxious period, and it is a good rule never to address the captain until he has first spoken to you. For the most part, the transatlantic captains are genial and inclined to be sociable, but you will now and then encounter one who evidently descended from a bear or some other ill-mannered animal, if the theories of Charles Darwin are correct.