Show f n WHEN THE LINER CO COMES M ES SN IN sv I 1 PATHOS AND PIERS AT NE NEW W YORK I 1 benl the mighty liner slowly docks with throngs of folks from over the seas tae gangplanks up electric shocks greet the incomparable ashes john smith bd lip d I 1 assed his wife once more at home they seldom bill and coo but when she ashes s from a foreign shore why its it s the proper thing to do lays of a cab n boy those who come down to the pier in cabs are little less noial i than th the iol volatile atile emotional and os cul dilatory atOrY natives 11 tives of southern europe who ho gather at the barge office to greet somewhat explosively their friend and relatives who come across jn in the steerage and land at ellis is land says a writer in the new york sun the hardened customs in specters spec tors view with placidity or indof ference the greetings at the foot of tl tre e gangplank every weel in the season when the exodus from europe is at its height two or three big twin screw steam ships dock at north river piers in anew york or hoboken last meet it was the great kaiser of the north german lloyd line that gave enter tain talu ment to an assemblage that had obtained orchestra accommodation from the surveyor of the port the sh p s ra I 1 A thousand or more expectant friends li lends of the voyagers got up at dawn to greet the liner knowing that it was lier habit to poke her nose into the hook not long after sun up there were husbands waiting for wives wives waiting for husbands lovers expecting sweethearts parents anxious to see children and children ready teady to greet parents also there were per persons cons who were hop ng to see other persons pe rons who mho hoped that some other i 1 dersons still might not see them A fleet of harbor bantams puffed about the ship presently she headed in liala a dozen tugs pi essing their tuat ted liw tenders fenders against her star board quarter to bring her parallel with mith her dock her cabin passengers crowded to her port rail on the prom enade deck and there was mas an eruption of 0 hand kerch herch es hats and silken edi eions of the flag in fact the waving biad begun long before folks on the T p er could make out the features of those on the liner A handsome black mustached bed man whose family have been abroad spies them in a bunch at the rail flourishing and flags he chasn t any bunting himself but he has two handkerchiefs a high hat a cane and an vin umbrella and he tries to wave tl cm ern all at once look at papa that s what his little girl said as she made an effort to get over the rail on which her mother was mas holding her everybody on the pier looked at papa who didn dian t seem to care as he t led to express his joy by waiving everything at once A short blonde man made his black derby bat hat express his emotions in a way that made him a center of ob for a while he lle may have belonged to the signal corps instead of waving his hat in the per way he did the act acl he ile took the hat first in the right hand using his arm like a pump aquiline nose and an accent that andl cited east side origin louis with the push characteristic of bis his race had p anted himself at the ship s gangway so as to be the first ashore the gangplanks are hoisted and made fast at the shore end to a high p atford necessary to reduce tae in dine eline of the descent from the lofty side of the ship louie loule gasn wasn t the first down as a man at the other side of the gangway beat him by taking the after gangplank the outpouring of voyagers was swift women from the ship project ed themselves into the arms of men and women on the p er there were lingering kisses which prompted the irreverent to shout break av ay there that made the girl look foolish an eth ethereal ether erfal lal being in a fur cape came statuesquely down the gang plank she evidently was looking for someone who hadn haan t turned up while the cabin passengers were landing a stream of stewards with hand baggage poured hom the for ward gangway like a human cataract down the steep gangplank valises suit cases and parasols are dumped under the letters on the sides of the L I 1 wonder if they see Us pier shed correspond ng to the last initials on the baggage the line lead ing to the desk of the customs officer in charge forms in a hurry and uni formed inspectors rush for the trunks now being lowered from the bow of the ship to the pier the search is not so perfunctory as in theold the old days and the women do not like it their lingerie Is exposed sometimes particularly if the inslee tor suspects that there are things able concealed in the depths of the trunks it is a great show for the grants crowded forward against the port rails they are mostly phlegmatic germans and slavs they appear to view with wonder monder not unmixed with amusement the unchecked i b lity of the american welcoming his beloved ones 4 0 7 6 some varying greetings then he transferred the hat to the left hand and worked it up and down occasionally passing it horizontally from bis his chin to his waistband he ile was doing the trici for the bene fit of a young woman oman who mho responded with a handkerchief the signalling sign alling pay p ay have been a R love code or a mere eccentricity in steamship greeting nobody asked the short man about it As the kaiser moved in alongside the pier the crowd moved with mith her to the big open door before which the gang planks lay ready for hoisting inter change of talk between ship and pier was now possible look at louie there theres s the baby too lou ie le louie how did you en joy the voyage this from a yo ing woman with an at last the trunks turned topsy have been restored in the in tenors to some dim semblance of what they were before the inspectors tackled them then there la is a rush for cabs and within two hours after the great ship was made fast along side her pier the tumult of greet greeting ing te Js a mere memory |