Saturday, April 18, 1925
Dear Folks:
This is about the last opportunity we are likely to have for letters on this boat. It seems like it has been difficult to start letters, and since Teneriffe neither of us have written a line. We are due to arrive at Banana (the mouth of the Congo River) early in the morning, and Boma, the former capital, sometime about noon; then Monday morning we will go on to Matadi and disembark, sometime in the early afternoon, I suppose.
We have had a very good and smooth trip, except for the first Saturday and Sunday, when we had pretty rough weather and a rough sea. Since then neither of us have had any touch of seasickness at all and have enjoyed the trip. And Max—well, he's just had the time of his life, and is doing so well. He has a very friendly disposition with everyone who will pay him the least bit of attention; always a smile. And of course we think he has made quite an impression on others, for they will often stop to coax a smile from him, which is seldom difficult. He seems to be very anxious to walk, and he spends a great deal of his time while in the cabin standing on his feet with his hands holding the railing (the bunks have a railing that extends about 18 inches up from the bed to keep you from rolling out in rough weather). And I came very near missing a great event!! He has one tooth just starting through! It doesn't seem to have given him a great deal of trouble; and we think another is coming, lower front. He has fallen off, or out of, his bunk only once since we have been on board, but it didn't scratch or bruise him.
There isn't a great deal of other news to tell. We have met some very pleasant passengers; one is an American, a Manager of the large Diamond Mining Co. in our district, and whose little girl was born on our station about two years ago; he is a rather youngish man, and quite good company. Then there are others, some English, Scotch, and Belgians. Our meals have been somewhat of a disappointment to us, for there are so many things that we don't care for; of course this is not every meal, and we have some splendid meals.
It is needless to say that we will be glad when this part of the journey is over. Of course, the trip from Matadi to Kinshasa, two days on the railroad, will be somewhat trying, but the second night we will spend in the Union Mission House at Kinshasa and then we will soon begin our last lap to Luebo.
I'm not sure that Dorothy will find time to write before we get off at Matadi, but suppose she will add a few lines. We may drop you a few lines from Kin, which will reach you by the same mail as this. Of course, we have no news yet about what steamer we take from Kin to Luebo.
With love to all,
B.M.
Kin
We have both stood the trip out fine, and of course Max is A. NO.1. He still has a smile for everybody and loves attention. We should be at Luebo now in about 3 weeks.
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