, 1885-12-29
1Hs wlFs 81 4 sAlLcR.
Wearing an -Exps ,tsnt Exprs sipn" Q
Counfsu nnus q Separations.
Nav York Tfme4I

Kew York iTimezI
cat the best, We sailors wives have 4
hard time OF it." went on the blue
eyed little madame with a most bccom-
ingly pathetic expression. 'If you
know many of us you will soon dis
cover that We all wear the same expect
ant expression. We never are, hut
always to be blest, and the pursuit OF
this ignis fntuus of withheld Hiss Is
really the only thing which makes our
lives bearable at all. Take my case, for
instance-married to the handsomest
man in the navy last year | saw him
twenty nine days out OF the 365, and
this only twenty one. Why. my J.
year-old baby calls her father that
man, and resents his coming near me.
And yet am looked upon rs rather
fortunate because my husband has not
been to China or the Congo since We
have been married.
The reporter murmured something
about forewarned being forearmed.
"Of course responded quickly this
philosopher with fluffy hair, that is the
sympathy we all got. My sister, mar
ried to a humdrum Wall street man.
tells me the same thing when occasion
ally in desperation / utter my longing.
'You knew Just what to expect, my
dear. when you married him. she will
say tritely, and so ! did, and If | were
back in my fathers house | would leave
it as quickly to-day to follow the for
tunes of my gallant tar as did ten
years ago. Marry a landsmanl" she
continued vehemently, mot /, indeed:
you know how sailors feel in a storm.
God help the poor devils ashore. they
say, and We sailors wives look with the
same compassionate pity upon such of
the sisterhood ms marry out of the serv.
ice
Yet | should think hazarded the
reporter. that the husband rather took
the lions share of the change and es-
element "
Occasionally, perhaps, when he is
ordered off on short cruises where it is
not wise for his wife to follow, and she
must anguish at homo alone, but he is
frequently at a station for eighteen
months or two years at a time, and
then his wife establishes herself ut the
came port. sees her husband daily, and,
surrounded by a circle OF navy women,
nomads like herself, enjoys with them
the happiness of family reunion and
the novelty Of foreign life.
"But these experiences are the sweet
mingled with the bitter of long separa
tons and weary waitings. | lunehed
yesterday with a friend whose only
child, a little girl Of 4 years, has never
yet seen her father. He is expected
home in the spring, and will doul tless
have shore duty then for several years.
About so much sea service is exacted
from axarp AHfAar CAmatspaa he tnt-o.
il in large doses. with short intervals he
tween, and, again. in alternate periods
of nearly equal length. Usually thirty
three months either on sea or shore
brings about a change. Another friend
had a most trying experience during one
of the periodical Chilian disturbances at
which our navy is apt to assist. Her
husband was down there and she un.
dertook to follow him. She lived in
Ohio, and, leaving her children there
with her mother. sailed from New York
for Aspinwall. There or at anama she
caught a sort Of tramp steamer plying
down the coast on its peculiar time, and,
after much delay and tedious stops,
reached the Gillian port where her hus
bands vessel lay. Before she could be
transferred, however, hostilities com
menced, and, although within hail. she
saw the distance slowly increase between
the two vessels. Her husband had
learned of her presence. and during the
bombardment which followed was con
sumed with anxiety for her safely.
Actually she was obliged to retrace her
way to New York without a sight of her
husband, after having been within
sound of his voice.
What is that Do | worry when my
husband is at SCI lest some accident
might befall himl Not at all. 1t is
odd, too, for I can not say goodbye to
a friend sailing for Europe without
nervous misgivings. l think I uncon
sciously partake of my husbands conf
dence. He says he only feels safe when
the deck of a vessel is beneath his feet.
On a railroad car he is as nervous as a
woman. Once since we have been mar
ried we went out to California together
by steamer. On the Pacific side we
encountered n terrific hurricane.
Everybody aboard was panic stricken
except the captain and my husband.
The latter vibrated between the deck
and the cabin where | was in a state Of
pitiable fright, and alternately urging
me to come up and see the grandeur Of
the storm, and running back himself to
watch the vessel ride the gale He
never seemed excited, even; only ex-
hilarated "
"Tiresome business, that Of the navy
No, / think not. At those engaged in
it do not complain. The charm OF fire.
qnent change is in it; at every port the
best circles Of society welcome a naval
officers; there is plenty of study and
routine work to occupy the time in long
cruises, and, TO a man, the service loves
the sea and loves to be upon it. OF
course they often spend months OF mo
~notonous waiting at some uninteresting
station or drag out a miserable period
enduring dangerous and e%nervating
tropical heat, their cramped quarters
aboard ship ac~centuating their discom-
fort, but when they arc not we'll placed
there is a daily hope of a change OF or
ders, and when they are time flies pleas
antly and proftably. Officers do not
get rich in the service, but sick or well
their pay goes on, and when they are
old they are retired on enough to keep
them from poverty Don't undertake
TO pity u.s. finished the cheerful young
madam emphatically. ut is a waste OF
emotion. We do not want it."