THE WOMAN ON SHIPBOARD.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 161, 1 April 1908, Page 3

THE WOMAN ON SHIPBOARD.

An American papt--; has/a -lively article.onthe. vagaries .of woman '<oii ( : board ship. ':A 'companion, article - o'n/thd; vagaries', of the irian oia'board, ship' would prove 'equally interesting-, and as" varied,, for,' the ' average, shipboard passenger, _ be; it man ' or: woman, j develops. ipany' idiosyncrasies unknown','to friends on shore,, and the-person with- whom one makes acquaintance , atthe. beginning of. a long'.voyage,is.,often, not to;bo: recognised as,the.:;personvto' : whom one,.says.good-bye at the end. • . : : One thing that : amuses the writer, of.'-'the article /is ;tlie, strange;, attraction' that . the ■capain'sstable has-' for -women travelling/ They scheme:..and;;,contrive'arid/arrange:;for. a.jSeat at, that post - of, hon'oiir, .and-almost the- initial, thing a return'ed woman traveller has to say about , the, voyage.); isj- "And:-we sat. at the. captain's-table," as if "that'were the -height of. her ambitioiu .The' tendency to indiscreet: chatter, is another.'foible 1 that is noted, .and 'one-/that distinguishes''men and. women ■ alike., - ./Anyone: who' lias : taken even ! a l ,little .voyage- knows, about -this. •- 'Two women in their steamer chairs were warned by ;,a ; third that they, were directly'underneath: the windows of, a state-room,"and that what they said might be overheard. ■ •" What of it?" .was the reply. • "These people' ./will never se.o: us again'."- '/- . j',' ' ■ Feeling' that 'way;, with regard ;td f - brio's it/ is straiig'e'. .to '.-discover/ among other-types, the : ;\TOman, who aims at knowing ; as- many people on 'board as • she pan - scrape acquaintance with.. 'She is' in direct contrast to the opposite sort, who avoid meeting peeple as/far 'as ■'is -possible without rudeness. ! On the other hand, there aro:. those , who claim- to have 'made some of their pleasantest friends 'among their fellow-passengers. The ' truth' is that a reasonable amount of friendliness', is. desirable, but that it is well to beware' of . ruslnng into sudden ; intimacies. .... / By the" third or: fourth day-out the keenwitted will have classified her fellow-travol-lors into the desirable and tho undesirable, and will be glad of opportunities for pleasant conversation with those desirables that ■chance throws in : her way. . The gPod-na-t'lired are, apt to bo.victims -of the bores who infest tho sea as-' well ■ as the • land. "HoV do you manago to do it?"' ask<;d a distinctly vexed woman of lic'r. friend in the next steamer chair. "-Do .what?" rejoined the other, liftiiig her'eyes from her" book. "Freeze . out' the tiresohie people' who" insist, on being friendly. I'm always at their mercy, and they, : never bother you at all." , It was true, they, never did, while the complainant spent her waking hours listening to tho marital woes ■of tho, pathetic .little woman on her right, wh'ilo a would-be poetess huddled on' the foot-rest of her chair and read her verses inspired by the sea,-ill which raves--and waves and roar and soar were carefully rhymed. The. untroubled traveller had done nothing to escape, except to lift a fairly supercilious eyebrow or. look r • indifferent at/' the first , approach.

, To' pick' out the belle of the voyage is not a difficult matter to tho initiated.' The inoxperienced . usually. select a. girl whoso, beauty is of tho refined type, coupled with charm of manner. The girl ill a well-cut bluo tailor-mado frock and neat' toque, with-'.a delicato blonde beauty and the poiso of a thoroughbred, • should be the cynosuro of masculine eyes, tho beginner would say. But not so. Tho ship's hello is more apt to be tho girl who comes on board in a hat of tho most exaggerated type and with much noise, and . clatter. All the way over her toilettes are tho talk of the ship, and she lives in tho public gaze. She is chummy with every man on board who will permit it, and has selected with woll-tramed eye tho most retired corner for her chair. There may be occasional variations in degree," or in age and condition, - but tho typo remains _ the sanie. Nothing is more apt to undo friendships than tho close intimacy of travelling. It is not easy to survive the test of close quarters and tho sharing of tho few- conveniences a state-room affords,, but those who. have met it successfully are better friends than ever for the trial.