Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-30
Keeps a Strong Hold Upon Her Many
Children.
OLD SALTS ARE SURE 10 RE-EHLIST
Sailors in Uncle Sans Navy Say
They Never Will Again,
B UT THEY LWAY DO

hor AHe EScuinS Staf.
well. after this cruise I'm going to stay
| Cut of this mans navy for sure, Is the
eommonest under-the-fo'c'sle remark of
cld-time blue jackets on American men-of-
| war, when knock of work has sounded
| and the smoking lamp is lit. Some of them
| musingly deliver themselves of 1t twenty
times day, to their pipes generally. for
| few Of their shipmates will listen to them
or take any stock in the statement.
I'm done with sailorizin' for a fact
the man with the lye-blackened finger nails
| the sun-bronzed face. and the weather.
stiffened joints. is quite in earnest when he
says this. and. albeit in the decline of his
days. maps cut plans for a shore future
with the wistfulness and the confidence of
| growing lad peering into the beyond.
But the sea is ever calling calling for its
own. Its gentlest music penctrates half
| the width Of continent with an insistent
Turing monotone that sings night and day.
In the ears of the sailorman, who has
striven to get far out of range of its sound
and sooner or later he casts his shore
avocation to the four winds and stands
once more upon beach or QUAY, regarding
the sea with a curious admixture of love
and hatred. In undermining maxims and
| proverbs, the saying that declares "once
| sailor. always sailor" gave Charles
Lamb pause He investigated, and found
the saying to be true and had the grace
to acknowledge it.
Old Tarberry.
Old Tarberry-which is not his name. but
very close to it-gunner's mate and ar
morer today on vessel of the Pacific
squadron. fought through the war on on,
or the old frigates. Nearly every officer
ana enlisted man who was in the old navy
knows Old Tarberry. He Is now a very old
man with long, white beard and brilliant,
deep-set brown eyes. He is i1st as fine a
sallorman as he ever was, and with all his
years. Knows some man-of-war sailoring
tficks that the young fellows of the new
navy never heard of. The agility with which
ne gets aloft when the command Man the
YARDS TO cheer ship" is given. fiabbergasts
even the monkey-like apprentice boys An
old captain watched old Tarberry spring I'm
rope ladder couple of years ago while
Old Tarberrys ship was at the Mare Island
navy Yard When Tarberry came down,
mana over hand. in the twinklins of an
eye. Tarberry. come here said the Old
commander. Tarberry. with the scrape
peculiar to enlisted men of the old navy.
advanced.
of. anyhow inquired the old officer. s.You
do that kind Of thing just as lively now
as you did when We were shipmates to-
gether on the old Hartford in '63. What
L want to know Is, how you do it?''
Salt horse and cracker hashr' said Tar
perry, as he retreated forward, and the
Knot OF officers howled.
Sure to Turn Tn.
Well. it is legend of the service that
old Tarberry has been swearing he in
tended to quit the service for thirty-fye
years as the termination of his enlist
ment drew nigh. I'm through with 1t for
good" was Tarberry's hourly remark.
which always ELECTED boot from all
hands around him. .'.Wait'u you see,''
>INxar 41,nv,
there would be another howl Regularly.
at the end Of his enlistment, old Tarberry
would go ashore for a week Then he
would return to the snip he had left or
turn up at a receiving ship. and ship over
at his old rate.
Last year all hands on the ship on which
Tarberry was serving thought they were
fooled When his three years Were up Old
Tarberry got paid off and went ashore at
San Francisco. Never again. said re as
he went over the side. IN reply 10 the fell
lows at the 9anSway who told him that
they expected to see him back at the end
OF MS customary seven days.
At the end of the week there was no Tar
berry. AT the end of a month there was
no Tarberry. No Tarberry appeared until
two months had gone by. Then he came
off to the ship in a shore beat with his
bag and hammock. There was a yell all
over the ship when he came over the side.
In ten minutes Tarberry was reshipped as
gunnerS mate, and in twenty minutes he
was the spar deck i'm one of his old
knockabout uniforms. But rever a word
said Tarberry as to where he had been for
two long months He couldn't be pumped
The Secret.
But it all came out A young officer who
had been on leave visiting some friends
in Mendocino county, CAL returned to the
ship and gave it all away. In beautiful
residence adjoining that of his Mendocino
county friends this young officer was intro
a e.a by the charming young hostess to
My grandfather, Mr.. Tarberry"
Tarberry, the old gunner's mate made
mis- customary scrape, grinned and bolted
Tarberry had educated this granddaugh-
ter out of his sailors pay. She had be-
come lovely, accomplished woman, and
mad married wealthy man. For several
years the young couple had been urging
Iarberry to leave the navy and to come
and live with them. Their appeals were
fruitless. Tarberry always wrote to them
That ne would go to them after this
cruise" but he never turned up.
When he went to Mendocino county last
year he saw his granddaughter for the first
time since he had put her, little girl I'm a
southern California convent.
Both the granddaughter and her hus-
band were delighted to see Tarberry. for
he is an exceedingly interesting old gem
tleman, who has been around the world a
dozen times. They implored him to settle
down vita them for good, and Tarberry
said he woui1 They fixed Up a room for
him with all manner of reminders of the
sea and of the life he had led on men-of-
war. and for couple Of weeks Tarberry
appeared to be pretty well pleased with
his new snug harbor..
Then he began to grow restless He
took to wearing his white mastering blue
jacket uniform when alone in his ROOM
He was cheerful. but constrained. The day
after the young officers from the ship on
which Tarberry had served turned up Tar
berry disappeared. This was a month after
he had taken up his residence with his
granddaughter.
Couldn't Stand Shore Life.
two marines uhc had haap nv, Loo x,a