Evening star., 1898-12-26
THE VOICES OF PROJECTILES.
n Warming Note That Makes Veterans
Dnck Their Heads
I'm the NIinnannolis Times

III N the Minneapolis Times
one of the naval officers off Santiago was
talking about ducking the head when bull
lets or shells came uncomfortably close,
and as he was never known to finch be-
fore any duty and had heard the song of
projectics innumerable in the civil as well
as in the Spanish war, what he said WAS
listened To.
II ducked,' he said, land ducked hard
when a 13-incher from the Oregon went
over our deck, forward, and pretty close,
too. during the bombardment. Help it? OF
course | couldn't. Neither could any one
else. The pregnant hinges of the knee work
fnvoluntarily in reverence to one of those
fOarng monsters. You duck as you would
wink If a fellow made a pass at your face
Or would sneeze if you stuck feather up
your nose. VIII power isn't any good as a
preventive: hasn't time 70 work Your
head bobs down and your legs bend before
you can say TO yourself Don't be a cow
ardly ass Funny, too. and also nvolun-
tary, think, Is the quick look that follows
the hOpbiIS 20 see if you have been OBJ
Served Of course you have been and equal
ly of course nothing is said because every
self
How about rife bullets-Mausers for
instance / asks1.
oh they're different Generally they
come TOO fast for duckins and you quickly
get used 70 their ping or their zip. You
know. too. that If the sound Is a whine the
bullet - a good ways off. and il i. is the
sharp psf it's too late to move, as the
missile has passed you Besides, the rifle
bullets are usually expected while l never
knew the close arrival of big projectile
IL ne anything but surprising l think too
The wlHdage must have something TO do
with The effect on nerves and muscles. l
have often heard the question discussed as
10 how close an s. 10. Il 13-inch shell in
full fight could come 10 a man without
knocking him over by atmospheric concus-
sion There doesn't seem to be any rule;
seems TO depend on the man. his posi-
tion al the tine the shell passes. l do rot
believe, however, any one could keep his
Tee il i high caliber shell came within five
1eet of him. l have ambition to try.
Did you ever notice the difference in the
character Of the sound made by an s. 10 or
even 12-inch shell and that " hich accom-
p1nies q 12-inch. / 100 pound feIow?'
l assured him had not, as when unkind
fate made me an attendant at such diapa-
son orchestral feats i thought of sins not
sounds
VII. it's very marked. Now, your sub
ealiher projectile. and even the bigger ones.
below the biggest, have a petulant sort of
vail Els h ttem. There Is a good deal of
the squeaI min gled with their Shrek Some
times I've heard s-inch cry az if in
agony. and the scream of Its flight. as it
left You. sunk into q sub almost human
But the 13-inch means red war and saws So
It's tone is horror made manifest, but r.
horror that is Inspired not that wiz :,
ieiL- lneEs are lew, or none, of ~ -
notes heard as the devil makes hlghei
mile leap An angry, doD:- m; NJ we've
denroniacal spread of sa:o H''ilis roar,
age Of the frightened wavas Of Seiy Gieas
fsm hess .as ''Irr,ea nv ellis to the tympanum
yorr AIn,ost soul. what rot I'm giving
though. /. :. poetical, l declare. After an
r,,st J- me greatest poetry is that which
tLr,r opiy stirs the heart. / ina CINE tht
:, -ody Of the big thirteen is not prosa ic
linking over this queer differentiation Of
JiCJectile sound-as if some shells felt re-
trtful over the work they had to do, while
the most destructive Of all fairly gloat
ihrpush space on their missions of death
] understood better the full nurport OF
SIMPSONS message to ToraI, when the ad
In!rai told him: Il have been firing I2-incl
she!is INTO Santiago today. Unless you sur
fenteT. the Oregon. MdsSa chusetts and In
adHa VIII open on you with 13-fnch smell.
t1,:'9fre~. commencing about noon"
'ra4 sur:er eered. you will rernenl } -
fud in his dispatch to BIanco mentioned
ti,iS S3Ii pSCn ultimaturn