Big guys are always gentle. Bud looks at me with his soft brown eyes and nods, yes, he definitely wants to be a big guy. So it pleases me that he loves Old Ironsides, which, in his lifetime, he has seen emerge piece by piece from unmasted disassembly in drydrock to its present magnificence. I'm especially pleased at the polite young sailors we meet when we go to watch the firing of the sunset gun. The sailors clear tourists from the muzzle area of the gun, and warn bystanders of the impending shot via dockside sentries carrying radios.
Big guys observe rituals.
Two sailors stand by at the American flag that flies at the stern, one at the ship's flag flying from the bow. A bosun's whistle blows. The cannon booms an instant later. The sailors stand at attention and gently lower and gather in the flags while a bugler plays. The sailors from these ships strike their own colors and salute their own flags in unison with the firing of Old Ironsides' sunset cannon.