THE 1887 VOYAGE OF JOHN JOSEPH LACE
He spent some time in New Zealand and then came to California, and is now on his way home. He is a little spare man, nothing but a skin drawn over the bones. When he first came on board he could be seen sitting on the upper deck, most of the time not saying a word, and for all the world, reminding one of an
Egyptian mummy. Now however - as the Yankees have it - he is
quite chipper. His wife is a rather short curly headed woman, who has the appearance of having managed things on their trip. The daughter is from appearance about 14 or 15 years, is of
a tall slim build, and a very erect carriage. With a little study of the features, carriage and manner, a person would be inclin~d to accord to her "Noble blood" or as we Americans put it Blue blood. I had forgotten to mention in my former notice of Nat Goodwin the actor that his forte is in impersonations
in which he is hard to be beaten. He is a star performer and appeared in Little Jack Sheppard in Boston just before leaving. Last night he gave on deck some of his impersonations which
I chanced to hear and they were very fine.
We now have two deck games going; throwing rings on a pin and shuffleblock. Another large whale was sighted while down
to dinner. There seems to be a continuous east wind which makes the use of sails to no avail so that up till noon today only
1411 miles is all that has been made in the past five days,
and according to what I hear from the men of the vessel we have 1242 miles yet to reach Queenstown. Nothing of much note has occurred today, and I have (been) spending my time reading
____________ matters in those around me.
One young man sitting at the head of our table named Arthur Robertson has a head "only about large enough to fill a 5 inch stove pipe, and from his general make-up crowned with such a
head a fair estimate can be made of intellectual capability.
No man would ever class him with a Napoleon or a Tallyrand, nor yet with the ordinary Irish huckster on the street corner. Such a man is not capable of conducting any business of his
own, however small, unless to follow in the wake of someone
else or under the direct dictatorship or control of a superior brain. Such men were born to .follow not to lead. There is
too much of the greyhound nature in him to be anything else
of a servant.
His next neighbor at table is of another make. From the partly closed eye on looking at you, the Caring Scotchman may
be seen and he is Scotch in both appearance and nature. A
(6)