Evening star., 1898-02-19

ton from the beginning Of a cruise to the
end OF II. A mess cook rendered desperate
oy what he considers the favoritism OF the
boss OF the galley. once In a while goes
ashore. gets drunk, and returns to the ship
with two lungs and foolish tongue filled
with stored-up observations intended for
the ear OF the ships cook He might as
well load himself with batterness to vent
upon the commanding officer The ships
cook man handles him TO a standsttT to
tongue music faster than any horrpipe, and
the rampageous mess cock must atone by
many weary weeks OF humility and con-
tracted range space for his rurn-em bold
ened boarding of the master of the galley.
When mess cook Is shorn Of the amount
or cooking space on the ranges that he
thinks he needs. he can't get the meals OF
his mess ready in time for the piping Of
mess gear. This not only gets him I'm trou-
BILE with his mess. the members Of which
call him many names worse than n bloom
ing Dutch galleon with jury rig In "A head
sea but IL gets him up to the mast ana in
the'eye Of the skipper for hardness in meal
serving. In word, there is no comfort
or happiness possible for the man-o'-war
mess cook who betrays the slightest disin-
clination to simply revoive in a remote out
er orbit around the boss of the galley.
Learning the Ropes.
The cabin and ward room cooks on most
United States m. n-of-war are nowadays
nearly all Japs ard Chinese. newly ship
ped Japapese cook for the skipper of an
American warship is always a pretty perky
little man at first. until he has had a few
run-ins with the ships cook Then he dis
covers that he is just much OF a deuce
In a begrimed deck as the rest OF the mess
cooks. The lap cabin cook. new to man-of-
war life, quite naturally thinks that as the
pTeparer of food for the commander of he
ship he ought to he entitled to a good many
more galley privileges than. for instance.
the mess cook who devises and SINNERS
the slum and scouse for the land-men's
mess. Thus thinking. he begins by patron
| ising the ships cook as soon as he gets his
dunnage aboard-and the Japanese mental
knows how to be almost patronizing
an American railway ticket clerk. But
before he has boiled his first kettle OF
water creased his first pan he finds
that he has two immediate masters aboard
ship, and that the more rigorous OF the
| two is the master Of the galley, the man
he has attempted to patronize. When he
gets the first bit Of the ships cooks mind
he is apt TO do one of two things. III he
Is n wise Jap in his generation, he will
repair to one OF the ward room Jap cooks
and take counsel with him in his own
language with reference to the nature OF
the prerogatives and authority of tho
man running the galley. The Information
he Will thus acquire from his brother jap,
who has been there himself. will be in
structive and valuable to him as guiding
his future cor duct when in the vicinage
Of the galley. If he is too much agrieVed
IN his soul over his initial sitting down
upon at the hands Of the ships cook he
may make for the commanding officer the
gentleman of the cabin, whose palate he
Is employed TO tickle, and to him relate
with gesticulaticns and shoulder shrugs
the sort of reception lie has gotten in the
galley. The comman nding officer will lend
to him an attentive but unhearing ear
for commanding officers know the necessity
of having one bcss-in-chief in each de-
paltment of ship. and they know be-
sides that when ships cook is reduced
to -nullz .ls..l.
of calling down at the mast he is capa-
bic OF performing a great deal of inocula-
ton of the wrong sort up forward.
Chinese Diplomacy.
The Chinese mess cook is more diplo-
matte than the Jap, and he always achieves
more success in the galley for this reason.
the Chinaman aboard a man-of-war car
ries his sharp, Discerning sye along with
him, and the Chinaman in any condition OF
life seems to possess an instructive knowl-
edge of just the people II Is necessary for
him to placate in order to create smooth
sailing for himsslf. 1t does not take the
rawest. Just-shipped Chinese mess cook on
q man-of-war five minutes after getting
over the side with his bag and hammock
to discover that his duty aft is not a whit
more hefty than his duty forward. and he
begins the conciliation of the ships cook
| by the time ms enlistment papers are dry.
For example. he snips OF dainty bit OF
the bird or the roast he has prepared for
| the cabin ward room and pays initial
| tribute with it to the galley master. When
| he begins to sort over his gear a day or 50
| after shipping he happens to find among
| his traps "corking mat "a sort Of deck
| rug that bluejackets spread on deck for
snoozing) a silk handkerchief OF a pack
| of Shanghai-m cigarettes that he feels
confident the ships cook would appreciate.
and by these shrewd means he makes a hit
where ii is chiefly necessary for him to
| gain approval, and mortgages practically
| from the go-of about twice much cook
| ing space he is rightfully entitled to and
hundred times the number of privileges
| that a Jap mess cook ever obtains In the
galley from one cruise to another.