The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-04

ward. and pretty close. too. during the
bombsrdment. Help IL? OF course 1
couldn't. Neither could any one else.
The pregnant hinges of the knee work
involuntarily in reverence TO one OF
those roaring monsters. You duck as
you would wink IL a fellow made a pass
at your face or would sneeze IL you
stuck a feather up your nose. VIII
power isn't any good as a preventive;
hasn't time to work. Your head hobs
down and your legs bend before you
can say to yourself: Don't be a cow
ardly ass Funny, too. and also ln-
voluntary, / think. is the quick look
that follows the bobbing to see III you
have been observed. OF course you
have been and equally Of course moth
ing is SAFE because every one knows
by experience how IL is himself"
How about rife bullets-Mausers,
for instance?" / asked.
''Oh, they're different. Generally
they come too fast for ducking ana
you quickly get used to Their ping or
their zip. You know, too, that IL the
sound is a whine the bullet is a good
way OF. and IL IL is the sharp psf it's
too late to move. as the missile has
passed you. Besides. the rifle bullets
are usually expected, while j never
knew the close arrival of a big projec-
tile to be anything but surprising. 1
think. too, the windage must have
something to do with the effect On
nerves and muscles. / have often heard
the question discussed as to how close
an s, 10, IL or 13-inch shell in full flight
could come TO a man without knock
ing him over by atmospheric concus-
sion. There doesn't seem to be n
rule: seems to depend on the man. or
his position at the time the shell pass
es. I do not believe, however. any n
could keep his feet II a high caiioer
shell came within five fee Of him. i
have no ambition to try.
did you ever notice the difference
in the character of the sound made ~
an s, 10, or even a 12-inch shell and that
which accompanied a l3-incn, l,i"o-
pound fellow"
1 assured him 1 had not, as when I'M
kind fate made me an attendant at
such diapason orchestral feats 1
thought of sins. not n
We'll, it's very marked. Now your
s~ub-caliber projectile. and even the big
ger ones. below the biggest. have a pet
ulant sort of wall with them. There
is a good deal of the squeal mingled
with their shrek. Sometimes I've
heard an S-inch cry as If in agony. and
the scream of it's flight, as IL left you,
sank into a sob almost human. But
the 13-inch means red war, and says
so. It's tone is horror made manifest.
but the horror that is inspired, not that
which is felt. There are few. or none.
of the higher notes heard as the devil
makes his 12-mile leap. An angry. DOM
mating roar, a demoniacal spread OF
sound, a very cleavage of the frighten-
ed wave of air-that's what the IL
tells 20 h tympanum. But. bless my
soul. what rot I'm giving you. Almost
poetical. ! declare. After all. though.
If the greatest poetry Is that which
most deeply stirs the heart. l mag
the threnody of the big - is not prosa-
ic."
Thinking over this queer differentia-
ton of projectile sound-as If some
shells felt regretful over the work they
had TO do, while the most destructive
of all fairly gloat through space on
their missions of DEATH understood
better the full purport of SIMPSONS
message to Toral, when the admiral
told him: II have been firing 12-inch
shells into Santiago to-day. Unless
you surrender. the oregon, Massachu-
sets and Indiana will open on you
with 13-inch shells tomorrow, com
mencing about loon.
Toral surrendered. as you will re-
member. and in his dispatch to Blanco
mentioned this Sampson ultimatum.-
Minneapolis Times.