--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Walker, Robert Sparks collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 32 number: 12 published: 1929-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Robert Sparks Walker, “The Atlantic’s Landless Highway,” *Improvement Era* 32, no. 12 (October 1929): 1002–1005." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera32012unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera32012unse start_page: 1002 end_page: 1005 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1929-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera32012unse publication_year: 1929 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1929, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Atlantic’s Landless Highway The Atlantic's Landless Highway By Robert Sparks Walker FROM Florida to Maine the Atlantic Ocean promises to be- come a very popular landless highway. Year after year the steamers there are competing with the automobiles as a route for tourists and business men. Already thousands of people are using the ocean in preference to land, and it has its silver charms and its golden advantages. At present, the longest route uninterrupted by stops gives one about four days of solid traveling from the South Atlantic shores to Boston, with no sight of land short of Long Island. But like a reddish-green bank rising in the distance to the west and northwest, Long Island slips modestly out of the sea, while whales frequently entertain the tourist with spouting water. However, long before land is sighted, and scarcely is the journey well begun, floating jelly fish become numerous, and as these lose their interest, porpoises in schools of five or more challenge the steamer for frequent races. They come bounding and leaping, re- minding the observer of the behavior of a pet racoon, and presto, they are directly in front of the steamer, racing as if there was a huge purse at stake. The prow of the promenade deck becomes the choicest grand stand seat from which to observe the movements of these skillful swimmers. As they twist and flip their bodies in cutting many sorts of aquatic stunts, the various slants of light in- fluence their natural brownish color, and every now and then one of them leaps into the air, passing entirely over a brother in whose tracks he has tired of swimming. Onward they move, displaying a jolly good mood, and then apparently, just for entertainment and for demonstration of his swimming ability, one lusty fellow flops over on his back and swims for miles with such speed and grace that the lover of aquatic feats feels that, after all, it would not be so bad to be an humble porpoise! On and on the jolly crowd moves until the fun of racing has lost its thrill. Then a sudden plunge to the right or to the left, and the steamer again ploughs through the salty water alone. How- ever, soon another school of porpoises, tired of the monotony of the sea, hears the steamer, and behold another race is on! As the vessel moves on, flying fish take part in the program, and dart into the air, sailing gracefully for a safe distance, when they plunge headlong into a strong billow, and all is over. Oct.. 1929 THE ATLANTIC'S LANDLESS HIGHWAY 1003 Such is a part of the program enacted in the front of a steamer on the Atlantic Ocean near our coast. But at the stern of the ship an equally attractive program is taking place. There a flock of Mother Carey's Chickens (Wilson Petrels) follow with outstretched wings, alighting on the water whenever they spy scraps of food floating in the wake of the vessel. These petrels are remarkable birds. In fact, when in flight one of them creates the impression that he is much larger than he really is, for when he accidentally darts against your window in the evening and you are enabled to take him in your hands while he is recovering from the stunning blow, his extremely light weight is surprising. What a curious creature he is! So void of weight that he can alight on the surface of the ocean and walk about feasting as if he were on the land. Often a number of them gather on the water about a generous gift of bread crumbs and eat until the steamer gets a half mile or farther ahead, but .they are fleet on their long wings and soon are close behind, still hungry, hoping and watching for more lunch. Had the petrel not been able to walk on the water, surely he never would have been named "Petrel." When his nomenclator saw him tripping lightly and safely over the waves he was doubtless reminded of the Biblical story of the apostle Peter walking on the water, hence the name "Petrel." The ocean trip on the east coast of the United States is a most delightful one. Not many rough seas are encountered in the sum- mer season, making nauseated stomachs scarce. In fact, sometimes the sea is so calm that the trip is made without a single case of sea- sickness. However, there is one point along the way that can not always be trusted. This is Cape Hatteras. Everybody who knows anything of the voyage distrusts the Cape. But it is not such an ogre to be dreaded after all, for it lets many steamers pass unmolested with nothing but the solemn warnings of the whistling and bell buoys. Usually before one gets off Long Island, the petrels forsake the ship, but when the green frock of Block Island appears, the sea gulls begin to pass in front of the steamer, flying low enroute. The smack- ing sounds of the hundreds of gulls as they smite waves smacks the human ears as well as the water, and when each bird returns to shore with a fish, he usually flies high, probably as a safe way of guarding his prey. From Block Island northeastwardly the trip becomes more charming. If it is in spring or summer, Martha's Vineyard will make the passenger with hiking instincts paw the floor like a restless horse, craving the opportunity to see the place on foot: for he is 1004 IMPROVEMENT ERA oc. 19Z9 sure that somewhere there abounds beautiful flowers and birds, some of which he may never have met before. But it is useless to yearn for such an experience, for the steamer has you in its embrace, and you will not be released before Boston is reached. Lobster fishermen begin entertaining you by skimming about in boats like water striders and whirling beetles gyrating on the surface of inland pools. Farther on the sailing vessels appear and, if the sun is right, a wonderful mirage looms upon the lower New England shore, which may deceive you unless some experienced seaman tells you about it. Before the ship rounds Cape Cod, if the passenger is half hu- man, he will agree that the most interesting phase of an ocean voyage is the crowd of passengers themselves. And here, almost everybody is well acquainted, and the crowd is one large congenial family where brotherly love has won, and where expressions of sorrow are heard for the parting that is in sight. The passengers on such a trip represent a collection of indi- viduals with about as varied faces, names, manners, habits, and ex- periences as the fish that may be caught at sea. Yonder is the school teacher who has given her best efforts and thoughts to training the youth in the South, now bound for her summer home in New England. Sauntering along the deck is the professional man with a bull dog which claims so much of his devotion that one wonders if he does not bestow more care on it than he does his family at home. There is the minister who having labored faithfully in the South is bound for a vacation somewhere near his childhood home, probably Prince Edward Island. The high school boy who has never before been on the ocean, but who is so fascinated with it that he declares that he is going to become a gallant old sea captain, is ubiquitous. Here is the old grey-bearded man who cannot rec- oncile himself to the behavior of the young folks of today, and who therefore proceeds to admonish them regardless of whether or not they are in a receptive mood. The typical New Englander who is so economical and frugal that, although he wears a straw hat, he still struts about wearing his heavy winter suit, is usually to be seen on deck and always at meal time. Leaning over the rail is an old man from the State of Maine whose neck has ever been a stranger to a collar. One sympathizes with the grief-stricken man who is at sea in the vain hope of losing a few sorrows forever. The lonesome middle-aged man enjoys the ocean so well that he loses a great deal of enjoyment standing and gazing into the water, wish- ing that all his kinsfolk were with him! This young man, one can easily imagine, is making the trip to see how many beautiful girls he is able to meet. Always in evidence is the flexible flapper who has tried to copy the sunset tints on her cheeks, and reproduce oa..i929 THE ATLANTIC'S LANDLESS HIGHWAY 1005 the pokcberry's juice on her lips, and who is wholly oblivious to the beauty of the sea! But it is an unusually fine family of folks, where charity abounds, and where brotherly love becomes quickly established. For example, a boy was taken ill one night. Two physicians on board tendered their services free of charge. A hospital nurse en route to her home in Boston begged to be permitted to give the boy attention, without cost. In fact, within a very few hours it seemed that all passengers aboard knew of the lad's illness. Women of culture and refinement insisted on being permitted to do some- thing for him. In the morning, in the evening, and at various times during the day, crowds of passengers congregated about his state- room to learn of his condition. Sickness tests the heart and soul, and so the parents of the little chap had more offers of sympathy and assistance from their newly made acquaintances on the ship than they would have expected had they been back home in a city where they had lived for a quarter of a century! Speaks well for the sea! There the thoughts of others run high, and a congenial crowd made up of refined people of various vocations can within a few hours become closely knitted in the bonds of friendship. Cape Cod rounded, the golden sun going down dips into the ocean, greening up the surface in a manner that makes the passenger feel he is entering an Arctic port. The lower edge of the sun strikes the water when the great ball of fire through an optical feat is stretched out of its natural shape; as a shell-less egg, its top is mashed down and it becomes a golden elliptical contortionist! But it furnishes a remarkable scene, and soon the Pilgrim's Monument at Providence rises majestically, dignified, and solemnly, as if to affirm that no passenger can disembark without declaring his loyalty to the others, and with a renewal of a pledge of patriotism to America. And what a temptation it is for the passengers on board to form a modern Pilgrim "Gayflower Compact" and, instead of landing, float on and on and on in this newly formed friendship league! There is no more valuable subordinate than the man to whom you can give a piece of work and then forget it. in the confident expectation that the next time it is brought to your attention it will come in the form of a report that the thing has been done. When this self-reliant quality is joined to executive power, loyalty and common sense, the result is a man whom you can trust. On the other hand, there is no greater nuisance to a man heavily burdened with the direction of affairs than the weak-backed assistant who is continually trying to get his chief to do his work for him on the feeble plea that he thought the chief would like to decide this or that himself. The man to whom an executive is most grateful, the man whom he will work hardest and value most, is the man who accepts responsibility willingly. — GlFFORD PlNCHOT.