READING THE SIGNALS

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9074, 14 February 1908, Page 7

READING THE SIGNALS

New comers ;to 4 New York by steamship begin to learn things about the city as soon as their vessel gets headed, up the harbour. There was a party, of such on board an incoming vessel recently. From the roof of ahigh down-town office building they 1 saw what appeared to be a string of signal flags, snapping in the breeze. Some of them were White, some; were striped, and one big one was a flaming red. “If we only knew the code we could tell what they mean,” said a member of the party. “Perhaps they indicate what channel we are to take up the river.” “Or" maybe they are weather warnings of some kind,” guessed another. “Let’s ask one of the officers and find out. ” They did. The officer looked first with the naked eye, and then with his glasses. “That’s the janitor’s family washing hung out on the roof to dry,” he announced, brutally, as he finished his survey. “The big red one is a tablecloth. ”