DIY History | Transcribe | World War I Diaries and Letters | Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, August-December, 1919 | 1919-10-29 Robert M. Browning to Dr. Mabel C. Williams Page 1

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Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, August-December, 1919

1919-10-29 Robert M. Browning to Dr. Mabel C. Williams Page 1

U.S>A.T. President Grant
Twelfth day out, 10/29/19.
Dear Miss Williams,
We expect to arrive at Brest tomorrow morning, and proceed directly to Coblenz. Of course, we may spend some time in a rest camp awaiting transportation or with a R.R. strike. Sounds sort of homelike.
The voyage has been very pleasant. This huge boat goes so slowly that it rocks less than a Pullman car. There has been practically no sea sickness, and what there has been was due I think more to mental than physical causes. I've felt fine except for a bad cold that caused me to miss a couple of meals.
On my way East I stopped at Niagara Falls for half day and found the spectacle not quite up to advertisements. It was really pretty fair but the eloquence of the press agents had prepared me for something a bit higher and more impressive somehow. The Atlantic, too, is somewhat overrated.
Perhaps if we could ever get up on top of the hill we're climbing, or see over the long ridges on both sides of us, we might see more of it. As it is all we can see is a meager fifteen miles or so of water, and part of the time the only white caps in sight have been those of the ships officers.
The spouting whales, the leaping porpoises, and phosphorescent waves have been strictly as advertised however, and we may have better luck in regard to the "waves dashing mountain high" the next time we come along. All we've had so far is "the long slow swell of the North Atlantic" that Kipling has more adequately treated.
After I left you I wen t back home for the week end, then started for Waterloo. Ay West Liberty however I met a bunch of Shriners on their way to Des Moines. The Illustrious Potentate of Kasba Temple of Davenport gave me a ticket to Des

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U.S>A.T. President Grant Twelfth day out, 10/29/19. Dear Miss Williams, We expect to arrive at Brest tomorrow morning, and proceed directly to Coblenz. Of course, we may spend some time in a rest camp awaiting transportation or with a R.R. strike. Sounds sort of homelike. The voyage has been very pleasant. This huge boat goes so slowly that it rocks less than a Pullman car. There has been practically no sea sickness, and what there has been was due I think more to mental than physical causes. I've felt fine except for a bad cold that caused me to miss a couple of meals. On my way East I stopped at Niagara Falls for half day and found the spectacle not quite up to advertisements. It was really pretty fair but the eloquence of the press agents had prepared me for something a bit higher and more impressive somehow. The Atlantic, too, is somewhat overrated. Perhaps if we could ever get up on top of the hill we're climbing, or see over the long ridges on both sides of us, we might see more of it. As it is all we can see is a meager fifteen miles or so of water, and part of the time the only white caps in sight have been those of the ships officers. The spouting whales, the leaping porpoises, and phosphorescent waves have been strictly as advertised however, and we may have better luck in regard to the "waves dashing mountain high" the next time we come along. All we've had so far is "the long slow swell of the North Atlantic" that Kipling has more adequately treated. After I left you I wen t back home for the week end, then started for Waterloo. Ay West Liberty however I met a bunch of Shriners on their way to Des Moines. The Illustrious Potentate of Kasba Temple of Davenport gave me a ticket to Des