The Log of the Empire State | Page 5

mirror, powder, hairpins, etc., etc., had dashed into one
conglomerate, broken mass on the floor.
M. A. Gale and Warren Shannon (usually the life of the party) were
seen in dejected heaps, with only half-closed eyes visible above the
steamer robes.
Mrs. Carrie Schwabacher gathered about the piano those well enough

to be about (after the storm had been raging for two days and nights),
playing old-fashioned songs, to try to raise the drooping spirits.
Chanticleer never greeted the morning with gayer spirits than this party,
when we saw the clouds had rolled away, and when someone repeated,
"On the road to Mandilay, where the flying fishes play" (while we
watched the flying fishes play), all the old familiar quotations took on a
new significance of realty.

Chapter IV

On October 10, Dorothy Gee, the Chinese girl banker of San Francisco,
presided over the ceremony celebrating the tenth anniversary of the
Chinese independence Day, held in the steerage. Besides giving a
clever address, she acted as interpreter for the speeches delivered by F.
R. Eldridge, chief of the Far Eastern Division for the Bureau of Foreign
and Domestic Commerce, A. F. Morrison and A. I. Esberg.
Many of us felt a great curiosity to see the engine that had pushed us
through the storm, so we descended countless iron stairs, down to the
very bottom of the ship; above us towered a bewildering assortment of
ladders, levers, pipes and valves. The heat was over-powering, so we
rushed to the ventilator and cooled off quickly. The deafening noise
prevented us from hearing all the engineer's explanations. Next we
were taken singly (as the space between the two massive doors will not
permit of more) through the two massive doors separating the boilers
from the rest of the ship. In case of an accident all the doors of the ship,
including these, could be automatically closed from the deck, dividing
the ship into three compartments.
We saw how the thirty-seven cakes of ice, consumed daily, were made,
inspected the laundry and peeked in where the precious, rapidly
diminishing liquors were stored, and we all felt satisfied that we knew
"What made the wheels go around."
With the regular meetings of the Executive committee, with Herbert
Hoover's Trade Investigation committee (consisting of Lansing Hoyt, C.
J. Mayer, Gordon Enders, E. Kehich, Paul Steindorff and headed by F.
R. Eldridge), mingling with the party to assist in establishing friendly

commercial relationship; with all those identified with certain
businesses and professions divided into groups, and even with the
women organized, we felt ready to meet any Oriental dignitaries, or
delegations.
We remember well how often Warren Shannon, with his unfailing
humor, sent us into gales of laughter, auctioning off the numbers that
represented the possible run of the ship on the following day. Louis
Mooser bid the first one hundred dollars on the number that won the
pool. C. H. Matlage, William Muir, F. H. Speich, Louis Brown, Mrs. S.
Schwartz and Mrs. Carrie Schwabacher were also heavy bidders.
Everyone started borrowing clothes from everyone else, right after
breakfast, the day of the masquerade. P. J. Lyon made a very gay girl,
C. R. Reed went as Woodrow Wilson, A. I. Esberg as a Chinese, C. B.
Lastrete as a bandit, Margarete Rice as Cleopatra, Mrs. Bruce Foulkes
as a beautiful Spanish senorita, Constant Meese, W. Levintritt, F. W.
Boole and C. H. Matlage as "Four Dainty Kewpies," Edward C.
Wagner as an oiler, and Carl Westerfeld was a regular devil.
Of course, Mrs. A. Gee, Mrs. A. B. Luther, Mrs. Washburn, Mrs.
Wheeler, Mrs. Boole, Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Shannon and Mrs. Grady
looked charming, as usual. The Misses Bridge, Miss Kinslow, Miss
Neff and Miss Bell also looked attractive. Dr. Gates, Dr. Judell, Miss
Simon, Mrs. Rothenberg, Mrs. Denson, Mrs. Dunn, Mrs. Yates, the
Misses Hunter, Mrs. Barnard, Miss James, Mrs. Ross, A. W. Morton,
Jr., and Mrs. Krull went to such a lot of trouble to get up their
interesting costumes. Henry S. Bridge had, "a fine make-up" and
looked like a real Southern Negro. Pretty Miss Howlett and Miss Wood
always made one think of the posters of "Sweet Sixteen."
Warren Shannon's Entertainment committee, assisted by Miss Moore,
Miss Craig, Mrs. Bercovich and Mrs. Panter, certainly discovered the
talent on board and we will always be grateful for the sweet singing of
charming Mrs. Gale, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Schwartz and Miss Reed and
the playing of Miss Moore, Mrs. Alexander and of our talented "Mary."
If anyone felt a bit out of sorts all they had to do was to think of the
courage and sweet, uncomplaining manner of Mrs. Morrison or what
good sailors Mrs. Anna R. Luther and Miss Louise Elliott were trying
to be.
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Columbus never strained his eyes