Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-23

HM I'm IN shore to shore. with
NA z love In every port
but to the sailor him
self who regards his
NE Win Its cares and dangers as an hon.
ored profession. the romantic side rarely
SHOWS itself. 1t Is never harder to find this
she than on day when all the rest of the
world Is happy at home
Sucn a day to all Is Christmas. and then.
II ever, the sailor realizes that a ..bome on
the rolling deep is no nome at all. or
course II the ship be in 4 home port. all
'he omcers who can be spared go on leave
10 MONIES or friends and the others make
'he pest OF a dull day aboard ship with an
eAceileht dinner and a good cigar When
.ne snip Is at sea on Christmas day 1t is all
inherent Ior then 1t must be little world
within Itself. Inc caterers of the lnesses
A"'e seherally provided an excellent Christ
mas dinner before leaving port, and around
IL 'he oiheers assemble, with their Jokes and
stories all happy.or at least trying to be So
But when the ship has been at sea for many
oays' or In some foreign cline where none
OF the dellcacies of the season can be found
II Is nara Tor even good caterer to make
$50 Sooo sumner, as, when in some of the
aiCic expeditions, roast bear with hard
tack sauce" has been the substitute for
turkey. Aoi
AFTER the dinner is over the punch bowl is
n n, with eggnog and around 1t. with good
.isars anu better Fellowship, the storms of
the sea and Of life are likewise banished
Whlie many merry story Of other Christ
mas days fills the time
An Unexpected Gift.
orten the officers get presents from home.
even though hundreds Of miles at sea. for
before the ship left the home port the
thoushful wife or sweetheart had provided
fhEar
'ne present and Entrusted it to some other
onlcer TO be delivered on Christmas oay.
anu mus ne knows that they still think Of
him at home. Yet sometimes the givers do
not understand the method so well and send
their little tokens through the mail and the
packages follow around from port to port
sometimes for months after Christmas he
lore they are delivered, while Jack thinks
Moiiie mas forgotten him." and MoIlie
cries when she is all alone because LACY
uiu not even think enough of the present
sne made him to thank her for It," But at
last the present will be received, and
montns afterward Jack will change his
mind. and Mollie have no further cause 70
cry. ~
knew of one case where a rather bulky
YET very inexpensive present was sent from
lne United states by mail to an officer on a
man-of-war in the Mediterranean but the
snip LETT too soon, while the present fol-
lowed lelsuriy from port to port until the
omcer got 1t In Japan, with enough extra
presents, and then his comrades were KIND
enough to tell him that he ought 20 be
glad to have girl who thought enough Of
him to send him such a present"
Speaking of Christmas dinners on a man.
of-war at sea, l remember one Christmas
down off the coast of South America near
the equator. The thermometer varied be-
tween 100 and lis in a way that made no
long for a little snow and ice from Yankee
land. The young officers In the Junior off,
GERS quarters were consoling themselves
that even this couldn't last forever, and
mourning the lack of q good dinner when
the caterer told them they were wanted on
deck. They returned shortly to find the
dinner ready-Christmas tree and all To
De sure the tree was only great bunch Of
cocoanuts from st. Lucia, but cigars and
cigarettes in abundance made it acceptabl
But the dinner itself was a true surprise
oyster soup Canned oysters, of course but
none the less oysters). turkey and cranber-
ries-and this was the surprise, for before
sailing from Barbados the caterer had ram
sacked the island for turkey brought him
aboard alive and kept him concealed in a
mess locker for a week to surprise lis on
Christmas. Then there were stacks of good
canned things laid in for Christmas before
We left the states" with wines and IL
queurs we picked up at st. Thomas, and
cigars just fresh from Havana
The dinner was a success and most well
come surprise to the tired, hot Junior off,
GERS, who had expected the customary corn
ed beef boiled rice. and other accessories
OF a sea dinner after several days out"
from port
The buoyant spirits Of youth and health.
assisted by other spirits equally buoyant
rose above the depression Of the sitting heat
ana the lrrching roll of the ship that threat
ened to land the much-prized turkey on the
deck. Many good story mingled with the
smoke wreaths of the good cigars, and the
aroma OF some tropical Hqueur. be it the
milo green mint or soft maraschino.
Christmas Up FOr'ard.
While all this pea 20 and goo1,,;I bo.
the officers quarters merry, the bluejackets
up forward have not forgotten the day, nor
their duty to celebrate it. II the ship is in
port, the extra Christmas allowance of paw
Is served out and nearly the whole crew
granted liberty to go ashore. The crew
CT the ship is divided up into messes of
about twenty each, and each has a caterer
whose duty 1t Is to manage the expenses of
tne mess, and a cook, both taken from
among themselves. When the Christmas
draws near some Of the extra money is al
ways chipped in" to buy a turkey and the
tnngs that always go with this holiday
bird Often boatloads of evergreen are OBJ
talned and used with flags to decorate the
gun deck. where the repast Is served, and all
are happy for awhile, to go ashore later and
celebrate according to their own peculiar
idea. Then 1t is said that kind captains
grow lenient at this time and pass lightly
the offense of some unfortunate "jackey"
who takes one glass too much. If in home
port the crew sometimes give a ball to their
sweethearts of that port, 1t being presumed
that there Is zone in every port" and the
band is pressed into service If it is a flag
ship, but II not, those Of the crew who can
play an instrument. from a jews harp to a
cornet. furnish the music, for necessity is
the mother of invention. These mixed or
chestras may have harps, fiddles, ban,os
bugles and accordionS In careless profusion
but the last is always sure to be prominent
for the "bluejackets," with their charac-
teristic application of sea terms to every
thing. call it the 'in and out jigger," and
consider 1t Indispensable
But when at sea in the tropics, and there
is no turkey, no evergreen, and last and
greatest. no liberty. it would seem hard for
Jackey' to appropriately celebrate the day
of peace and goodwill" yet he goes at it
with will. as he does at everything be it
work or play. and generally succeeds very
well considering the limited means at his
disposal. OF course the dinner consists of
canned beef, salt horse the jackeys call
1t, canned tomatoes, corn, and nothing fresh
II the ship has been at sea some time But
a Sklllfu1 cook can make passab1e dinner
even with such odds against him. Potatoes,
spuds' they are universally called by the
sailors, form an important part Of the feast
In the Stews, soups and everywhere for they