9
Thursday May 12 ^th. t
We are just crossing the lowest (Southernmost) part of the
bank of New Foundland. Keeping so far Southward to
avoid collisions with fishermen and icebergs in
the fog usually found resting over these shoals, not
one ice berg, and only one fisherman have we seen.
Who knows but that one is the Eminence of classic
memories? –
Our passengers are generally beginning to
recover from their sea-sickness and to appear often on
deck, sometimes in the Cabin – They are for the most part
of European stock but domiciled in America – The
American States men, Illinois Missouri and Wisconsin
strange to say are sending adventurers to Europe – Louis-
sian merchants, Cuba, patriots – Their morals
seem about unexceptionable, Only one has been seen
intoxicated, not one is profane – They practice good
manners and affect fashion – but the absence of
a laundry works disastrously to dress, and sea-
sickness cannot endure wine – The ships literature
is not of high pretension – Guide books, travels, and
yellow covered pamphlets, constitute our libraries
and truth to say, life on board ship generates an
ennui that can endure nothing more severe In Politics
the party are nearly unanimous, All are for Italy
and France – and most think that the imbroglio

10
in Europe ought to be improved by the United States by
seizing and annexing Cuba – Music floats upon
the decks and floats over the sea – There is a
bassoon which though it has not yet called up
Tritons from the deep, does not fail to draw al-
ways a full house on the forecastle. Germans sing
as if trained in the opera and some of them ^even^ whistle
in the tones of the lute – The favorite tune among them
all, with though with national variations is Home
Sweet Home –
I have just come down from ^the^ deck, to
conclude the entry ^record^ of the day with the entry of an
ice berg – It lies far away in the Southern Horizon,
massive, white, shapeless – I wish that the haze might
[ f ] all away and let the sun shine out, and illuminate
its r with prisms its now dull and monotous surface
– – – My wish is realized. The dull snowy mass has
turned into crystal – How brilliant and how very entirely
it sails away beyond us, larger than any ship higher
any than any temple How mean the achievements of
art contrasted with the very peaks and caprices of
Nature.