Ruth’s Diary

At last the sea is smoother & everyone is feeling in much better spirits. As usual I was awake long before the breakfast bell & as soon as it rang I was up & out to my morning bath. Helen was feeling much better & went to breakfast with me. Harold was about finished – Dot(?) Lincoln & Adolph joined us. It is fun talking to Adolph – he always seems to be so interested. He certainly has a keen mind. I was elated by the compliments he paid me – that I was a pretty good fellow – ? that he thought this insane, silly me that has had so much fun this summer was the real me & that it was too bad I had to be stifled. I shall try not to let it be but it is hard teaching not to get in a rut. I talked with two very interesting women this morning for an hour. A Mrs. Ulmer whose husband has been working in an evangelical mission in the interior of China. They have lived there for fifteen years & now are returning to the U.S. by way of French Indo China as the Yangtze River is closed & thence by boat through the Suez Canal. They stopped at Cairo & from there went to Palestine. From the Arabs they heard much praise of Hitler. At the time they were there was a great deal of feeling against the British as they had just put into operation their immigration restrictions against the Jews. The other woman, whose name I don’t know, is apparently connected with some university in California. She too had been to Palestine & had witnessed some of the bombings which had taken place in anti-Jewish demonstrations. In fact, a train in which Mrs. Ulmer had been riding was bombed, but fortunately the train had not made the necessary contact with the bomb & it had not exploded. They learned of this narrow escape the next day. From Cairo Mrs. & Mrs. Ulmer sailed to Marseilles – into Germany – to Paris – London – Southampton. She like the rest of us, was impressed with Germany’s scarcity of food, the backward methods of farming, & how hard everyone had to work – the women in particular. The woman from California had travelled through Palestine, Italy, Bulgaria, Rumania, Yugoslaria, old Austria, & into Germany. She found much discontent among the older people & also again the feeling that there might be a counter-revolution in Germany. She felt that it was practically universal feeling that Germany was preparing for war, whereas it was my experience that just as many felt there would be no war as those who felt there would be. In Venice she had encountered a feeling of hostility against the Nazis. Evening was done on a visit & upon his appearance before the crowd – there was a very audible hissing mixed with the applause. I listened to the ship’s orchestra until 11:00 – then bouillon was served. From 11- till lunch I read. Seasoned Timber by Dorothy Canfield. After lunch I continued reading because the weather is poor. At 3 o’clock Harold & I went to the movie Love Affair. I had seen this on the way over, but enjoyed seeing it again. It was then time to dress for dinner. I get a lot of enjoyment dressing after a summer of hosteling. It restores one’s morale. In the evening 4 of us played dominoes & later I read aloud to Helen.