Rock Island Argus., 1897-09-22
MAN-OF-WAR'S MEN.
THEIR QUEER CALCULATION AND NO
TloNS ABOUT The SERVICE.


Year and . ..Butt"-Odd Ideas the Blue
Jacket Has About Work and Play Aboard
Ship and on Land.
On the day after his enlistment for q
period Of three years the American man
cfwar's man begins to figure on the
amount of time that IS to intervene be-
fore his discharge He has 1.-TWO years
and butt" to do. the butt" being
the remaining II months and 29 days OF
the first year. On the day following his
completion of the first year of his enlist
ment he has only year and butt to
get through No matter if the butt is
only single day under a year in length,
the bluejacket contemplates the term
with the blandest complaisance. 1t is,
at any rate, not whole year, even
though it be S6l days, and this fashion
Of throttling each year Of his service
makes him happy; it seems to bring
his discharge and the more or less tenn
pestuous joys he carefully maps out long
before his discharge within closer
range When he has put in lS months
Of an enlistment, he breaks out the
| homeward bound pennant; he is going
down the hill, and when he has finally
achieved two years and has only the
butt to accomplish joy fills his cup.
| "Once a sailor always a sailor" is
not strictly true of man. of wars men Of
the American navy. Only about one
half Of the men who complete one en-
listment ship for another three year
| cruise, but about niue-tenths Of the
men who put in two cruises settle down
| to a lifelong continuance in the service.
Six years OF navy life seem thoroughly
to inoculate them with what the Ger
mans call waEderlust When a blue
! jacket passes few of his summers In
| the latitude of the North cape and q
| couple of winters down among the Ber-
| mudas or in the salubrious south Pa
cifc, he is likely to acquire dislike
| for the climate Of the United States,
| and this dislike has mere weight than
anything else in forming his decision to
remain in the navy. Moreover, after a
few years in the navy the bluejacket
| seems to become possessed of the odd
idea that he is really doing nothing
aboard ship to earn his pay. that the
/ y
from all hands in the morning until
pipe down at night is really not work,
and with this quaint notion he also ac-
quires an exceedingly exaggerated idea
of the terrific amount of grinding labor
q man has to perform in order to gain
a livelihood ashore. Put to bluejacket
who has put il couple of naval cruises
the direct question. Are you going to
take on again when your time is out?''
In nine cases out of ten he will look
you i'll the eye with an expression OF
stupefaction and inquire. What the
devil do you think I'm going to do
work."
But for all Of the resignation with
which he in time comes to regard q
lifelong career in the navy the blue
jacket gazes forward at first with ,
wistful eye to the arrival of the day O.
his discharge, and when that day finally
approaches within clear VIEWS only
about q month i'll the perspective. fol
instance-he presents q singular picture
Of nervous anticipation and Is no
worth a water rotted rope yarn fol
work. He moons about his ship like
man in q dream, consuming great quan
titles of TOBACCO that he finds favorless
and during this period he is pretty like
ly to miss few ships calls in his alb
straction and get himself jumped upol
at the mast for the delinquencies. Hi
shipmates with comparatively Ions
periods still to serve on their enlist
. ments regaBd him with the jaupdicet
eye of envy. which they show by pictur
ing to the short time man the mos
gloomy things that await him as sool
as he steps over the gangway. beacl
bound, with his bag and hammock.
Overtime men being shipped back {.
this country on a man -of-war are no
compelled to do any of the ships work
: They simply stand the military calls
eat their meals and smoke their pipes
watching the while with lazy happines
the daily round of labor of the less for
D tunate bluejackets attached as mem
bers Of the crew Of the ship ON whicl
; they themselves are practically passen
gers. The overtime men occasionally
/ emit arrogantly humorous directions t
, these temporary shipmates. the ship
company Of the boat that is haulin
them home. "Gwan, now, and shine u
that bright work. you long time dub!
. they will shout to deckhand when th
officer Of the deck is aft and out of hea,
c ing, and Get down to your bunker, 20
> grimy hatfoot and rake out your coal
: is the kind Of thing the man Of tn
: black gang below hears from the pas
; sengers whenever he tries to smoke
= peaceful pipe on the topgallant forecas
: tie.
One of the immemorial customs of th
navy jacks is to secrete in the ditty ba
: Of the discharged shipmate who is abou
: TO go ashore can of corned beef, fey
potatoes and perhaps one or two othe
articles of sea food. This is done in O,
4 der to remind the discharged man whe
he opens his bag ashore that in tt
;. opinion of his shipmates he will be III
). able to earn enough to eat ON land if b
4 takes it into his head not to ship ovel
a and that they have, therefore, taken
/. small measure 10 shield him from stal
!, vation with little navy grub when i
1 hos, l.,