The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-02
TWO YEARS AND A BUTT.
The Tan-of-Tnr's Mans Queer Calculation and
His EARLY Ambitions Aboard Ship.

WASHINGTON, May lon tho day nfter his
enlistment for a period Of three years the .Ameri-
can man-of.war's man begins to figure on the
amount of tina that Is to intervene before his
discharge. He has two years and a butt " to do,
the butt being the remaining eleven months
and twenty-ninc days Of the first year. On the
day following his completion Of the first year of
his enlistment he has only q year and n butt to
get through. No matter II tho butt is only n
single day under a year in length, the bluejacket
contemplates the term with the blandest COM
plaisance; 1t is, at any rate. not a whole year.
even though 1t be 1854 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 tcmpcstuous joys he carefully maps
out long before his discharge, within closer
range. When he has put in eighteen 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 thebutt to accomplish, Joy fills his cup.
"Oncc q sailor always a sailor" is not strictly
true of men-of-war's men Of the American navy.
Only about one-half of the men who complete
one enlistment ship for another three-year
cruise. But about nine-tenths OF the men who
put in two cruises settle down to a lifelong con-
%tinuance in the service. Six years OF navy life
seem thoroughly to inoculate them with what
the Germans call rdnderiust. When a blue
jacket passes a few OF his summers in the lati-
tudo of the North Cape and a couple Of winters
down among the Bcrmudas or in the salubrious
South Pacific, ho is likely to acquire a dislike
for the climate OF the United States, and
this dislike has more weight than anything
else in forming his decision to remain in
the navy. Moreover. after a fcw 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
perpetual scurry in which he is kept from all
is really not work. and with this quaint notion
he also acquires an exceedingly exaggerated
idea OF the terrific amount OF grinding labor a
man has to perform in order to gain IA livelihood
ashore. Put to a bluejacket who has put in a
sso %Ia you OF r aaHsi to e! take on the a siIfet wS RaeS 1oa1
look you in the eye with an expression Of stupe,
think I'm going to do-wcrk !"
But for all Of the resignation with which he in
navy. the biuejackct gazes forward at first with
{, wistful eye to the arrival or the day OF his dis
Within Iiphfin clear iaa view is som" only ABOUT nt"% a mo ophaU in the
perspective, for instance. he. presents n singular
picture OF nervous anticipation, and is not worth
about his ship like n man in q dream. consuming
great quantities Of tobacco, that he finds favor
miss a few ships calls in his abstraction, and
get himself jumped upon at the mast for the de-
linquencics. His shipmates with comparatively
long periods slill to serve on their cnlistments
regard him with the jaundiced eye OF envy, which
they show by picturing to the short-timc man the
most gloomy things that await him as soon as he
steps over the gangway, beach-bound. with his
bag and hammock.
Overtime men being shipped back to this
country on q man-of-war are not compelled to
do any OF the ships work; they simply stand the
military calls, cat their meals. and smoke their
pipes. watching the while with lazy happiness
the daily round of labor OF the less fortunate
bluejackets attached as members of the crew Of
the ship on which they themselves are practi-
cally passengers. The overtime men occasion
ally emit arrogantly humorous directions to
these temporary hipmatc the ships company
of the boat that is hauling them home. "Gwan,
now, and shine up that bright work. you long
time dub" they will shout TO a deckhand when
the officer of the deck is ait and out of hearing,
and Get down TO your bunker: ye grimy fiat.
foot and rake out your coal" Is the kind of
thing tho man OF the black gang below hears
from the passengers whenever he tries to smoke
q peaceful pipe on the tO'gallant forecastle.
One OF the immemorinl customs of tho navy
charged %shipmate who Is about to go ashore a
one or two other articles OF sea food. This is
done in order to remind tho discharged man
when he opens his bag ashore that in the opin-
ion of his shipmates he will be unable TO earn
enough to eat on land II he takes 1t into his
head not to ship over, and that they have, there
fore, taken a small measure to shield him from
starvation with a little navy grub when he has
spent his payday. Discharged men try all sorts
OF schemes to keep this stun from being placed
in their bags. but nevertheless they nearly al
WAYS find IL there when they get ashore.