On Board S.S. Padnsay

Jan. 15, 1934

____:

I have been having a grand time on board. It is the laziest possible of lives with three meals a day taking up most of our time. This afternoon a school of porpoise was along side splashing and leaping; we kept them in sight until dark.

Charles Brelsford, the boy I am going out with, is great. Out there he will be assistant manager of the plantation and radio operator while the present operator is home on his furlough. At home he was secretary to Harvey, Sr. I met his girl, Virginia Vess, ________, Nashville, Tenn., down at the dock in New York. She is a peach. Chuck is a Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Beta Kappa from Dennison. His father is an Episcopalian Minister and he had been secretary to Firestone for a year. I should also add that Chuck was graduated in 1929.

I guess Chuck had the idea that it would be great to take Virginia out with him but Harvey, Jr. thought that he should go out and see what it was like first. He could then send for her knowing what she had to face.

The women who come out are given medical examinations. Their passports are arranged and they are sent out for, or with, the men by Firestone. The passenger list is full this trip: the two of us, four missionaries, and one U.S. Consul.

I have not missed a meal yet but yesterday the ocean was choppy and that laid almost every one low.

Tonight after dinner one of the missionaries brought out a little box organ and played it in the salon for a while and I tried to write this through it all.