Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-12-05
Written for The Evening Star.
ON BOARD THE ATLANTA
How Thanksgiving Day Was Passed by
O0cers and Men

How Thanksgiving Day Was Passed by
O0cep and Men.
LIVELY RACE NJ TIE Blur yAcKrrs-rxrrRrsr-
ING REnISrscsScEs AT piSxEk-EvrRy MISS
HAD rrRkEx-soop caEkR ALL AROUND
rHR PASSION ron PTTcHrxa DICE
INHE Q. 8 g. ATLANTA WAS LYING IN
the historic hArbor Of yorktown, Va. on
ihanksgiving day, almost within the shadow
OF the LOFTY monument that marks the SPOT
wnere CORVALLIS gave over his sword Co Gen
Washington; and though no one ON board
could enjoy the day at his home. rs all would
have preferred 70 DO. il Was still day pleas
antiy passed, and from the cabin to the fore
castle every one seemed happy. Every mess
IN the ship had o turkey ana the cooks We'd
with one another for excellence Ia their Gull
nary arts. During the day before the sailors
had collected loads OF holly ashore aud the
whole ship was prettily decorated with il; and
flags appeared in abundance. Though the
morning broke gray and dismal aad the old
earth works Of Corvallis fort on the Yorktown
side. and thoso of Mcclellan. on the Gloucester
side, shone through The mists OF drizzling
| rain. this did not da npen tho ardor OF the
| ships company.
srRAyeHT-AwkI RACE
During the forenoon the two long. narrow
whsle boats we're lowered. stripped Of every
thing that could be spared TO redace tner
weight. and manned with the crews Of two
rival gun divisions for . race OF a mile straight
| away from up the river to the ship. The OIL
GERS and crew collected on deck to see the race.
| and small bets went round. consisting IN little
more than a cigar bottle OF beer, but Just
enough 70 add n little interest The steam
| cutter accompanied the racers, and at the word
of hi t..tar tEh
| the coxswaiu ut the helm giving the stroke 20
| his men and encouraging them to put their
weight on the oars the twelve fourteen-foot
oars dipped the water at the same instant IL
| is pretty sight 10 see the twelve brawny 'blue
jackets" stripped to the waist, bend forward
as one man. and then lean back, with all their
muscles drawn on the oars, the boat springs
through tho water, sending the spray dancing
| from her cutwater. The two boats keep right
| together till within a hundred yards of the
ship, then man in one Of the crews makes
| mstroke, which "5reaks up" the whole crew,
| and, Q result the other crew wins. amid the
cheering Of its constituents among the blue
| jackets"
The executive officer had offered an immense
| turkey as = prize to the best rIfo shot on the
| ship and q representation from each mess par
ticipated till IL was decided
akMNIscKScKs OF DINNER.
At dinner every one was in . good humor,
and at the officers mess the health Of Sweet
hearts and wives," the best one known to
those that 60 down to the sea in ships" was
drunk many times Then story telling began,
and some good tales Of other Thanksgiving days
| were told.
One officer who had survived the rigors Of an
arctic winter while searching for De Longs i'll
| fated party from the "Jeannette expedition"
told Of his winter passed amid the ice and snow
and Of 3 Thanksgiving dinner that consisted of
bareback, beans aud salt horse Gas canned
| beef is called by the sailors). Yet amid all
| these hardships an old ''blue jacket" had
| tersely remarked that The jis; thanked the
| good God he was Twin" In contradistiaction
to this another officer told OF Thanksgiving day
| on the east coast of Africa. within the torrid
| zone, where il was 80 hot that the mere sug-
gestiop of snow and ice made a man feel thank
full" Other tales of Thanksgivings in the
orient, among the silken-robed japanese, or
| the almond-eyed Chinese, or In the South Sea
| Islands, went round till il seemed that the
/ world isn't SO very large after all.
In the evening went forward to see how the
enlisted men were enjoying their holiday, and
| found that the musical ones had assembled and
| were playing flutes, Guitars, ban1os and ac-
cordions, while some Of the nimble-footed ones
danced rafting jiga One old tar remarked
that The hadn't seen the likes o. IL since the day
he went round the horn in 10, but il was noaty
dry" This was the same man that went to the
hatchway and called out, "How many Of yeZ
are down thar?'-and when some one answered
| Seven, he sang out, Thin come up the half
| of yez," and wondered why some of the on
| lockers laughed at his order In the evening
| the officers invited the officers of the Bepning-
| ton over to spend the evening, and quite q
number OF them came. Reunions are always
pleasant in the navy, for there sre always so
many experiences to talk over. and on occa-
sion like this there 10 nothing but good will
and plenty OF il" Then it is that ''old times"
pleasant a. the hours that are passed.
PASSION FOR PITCHING DICE.
| Then the dice boxes are called into service to
see who pays for the cigars and beer, for aboard
ship all questions are decided by pitching dice.
once saw two young officers pitch dice for
cigars and beer until they we're tired Of it and
could think Of nothing eise to pitch for, when
| one Of them suggested that they pitch to decide
who WAS the biggest fool, and when the mo-
mentous question was decided they both
turned in" happy. one contented in the fact
that he was not the biggest fool and the other
| firmly happy In the fact that he had Won even
If he was the biggest fool"
The life Of a naval officer may be q strsng
one and may lead him into many strange lands
As one old officer once told me, 1T may have
| its ups and downs. but it's never monotonous"
| but wherever he may be Thanksgiving day win
always carry his thoughts back to the home of
his early days, to the time when the day was
vision OF turkeys as big as houses and pumpkin
pies that We'd in size with the moon The
| northern man viii think OF the ice and snow
that gladdened the heart Of his boyhood. with
its skating and slcighing and the southerner
OF the palmettoes and pomegrsnates and palms
that were robbed Of their foliage to decorate
the home Of his boyhood on the day Of thanks.
THE SQUADRON OF EVOLUTION.
| The Atlanta ID still attached 10 Admiral
WAlker's squadron and will probably not 60 to
South America right away, but may take .
West India cruise with the rest of the squadron
| during the winter months. The young men of
New Orleans have organized o naval reserve
similar to the organizations in Boston and New
York, and 1t Is possible that the squadron Of
evolution may be called on to give them in
struction in modern naval drills and gunnery
similar to that given last summer TO the Boston
and New York boys think the officers would
be pleased with such duty, for while the drill,
especially with new recruits, is hard work, il is
very satisfactory work, and the members Of the
/ naval reserve are earnestly endeavoring TO pre-
pare a reserve force that would be Of service to
| the government in time Of need. and in this
| they have the hearty support of every officer in
\ the service.
Moonshine and Earthshina.
From the New York Times.
| The question has been asked % 10 the differ
encs between those phases Of the moon in
which portion of its disk is apparently hid
dan and iss disanpear rance while eclinscd Ra