Evening star., 1898-06-11

leiloW cnlel petty offlCorS, well for
the new batch of just-shipped landsmen
what he says goes Aft, his word is taken
by the skipper. by the executive officer, by
all of the watch and division officers with
no accompanying grain of salt whatsoever
The men up forward must be handled The
Legs is rated to handle them-nan- handle
them. If necessary. If he fails in this-if
ne Weaktns, crawfishes or abates q jot of
controHhe is disrated-"busted," in the ex-
presslye bluejacket phrase. A Legs is yecy
rarely busted for incompetence. The met
tie of a chief master-at-arrns is always
thoroughly known aft before he is rated.
He need not necessarily be bully But he
must be natural leader of Inen who have
frequent fits Of desire to lead themselves
He must know how to fight with his hands
there could not possibly be a more capa BILE
lot OF rough-an tumble artists than the
mesters-at-arms of the American navy He
Is privileged to take matters into his own
haEds up forward when occasion demands
The officers do not expect him to rush aft
with too frequent reports of misconduct
III the necessity arises for the Legs to
knock man horizontal with the deck it is
Inc business of the Legs to know how to
do 1t with science and promptness. He is
not supposed to take thrashing A
thrashed Legs control of the crew is gone
ana ne Is busted out of hand. But there
are very few instances of this sort in the
history OF the American navy.
Has Seen Service.
The Legs of an American man-o'-war is
always a man who has seen many years
OF service in the navy and passed through
most of the rates. He Is always a man of
strong chraacter and man OF quiet speech
WitnaL There is no such brcko in our
navy as loud-mouthed Legs The chief
maSter-at-armS must enforce discipline for
ward by his mere presence not by bawling
He can't be first mate in the matter of
using MS tongue. American man-o'-war's
men Will stand for a Slugging at the hands
OF the Legs if they think they deserve il
Dut they will not stand for tongue-lash-
ing at his hands. There We're bucko tongue
iashers OF chief masters-at-arms In the old
navy but meme of them lasted very long
Iheir blueJacket victims got them ashore
and sent them back to their ships with
oiis e Acuses 1or noses, ears and other
features necessary TO the facial equipment
oI mdsters-at-arms The master-at-a
OF To-Day Is man whose bluejacket service
tauent MIN every trick of the naval sailor.
every phase OF fo'csle life. He cannot be
fooled. catoied outwitted He NAV he
won over in time by diplomatic shipmates
however The bluejacket who is crafty
enough 10 get the good will of the Legs of
MS ship makes lot of sea room for him
SELF He works himself into the class OF
the overlooked The Legs has very sharp
eyes. but then, he cannot see at ali on oc-
casfon, and he would not be human did he
not have few favorites for shipmates
An IN all, however. he is pretty impartial
Aic may sc ashore tonight and have a whirl
on the beach with fellow chief petty Off
Ger and tomorrow morning throw the same
IeHoW chlef petty officer into the brig and
double-iron him there. Such a thing does
not quash friendship. The men forward
know what the Legs is rated for
What Might Happen.
Just what bowling floating Bedlam the
forward part of a man-o'-war would be If
there were no Legs aboard 1t would be
oInlcult TO conceive. The men would prob
able eat each other up. Not that American
naval sailors are not good-natured and dis
posed to live in Peace. But it Is a hard life
sa1lorizing even on a modern shin of xar
and the man whose temper does not occa
slcnally master him urder the cooped-;Tn
cendltlons of man-o-war existence NAV
generally be set down as a ielly fish Tho
Legs Is there to smother the temper one
way or another The men forward know
thls and' when the fit is on them and they
.sei the presence of the Legs. it is up to
them 10 take 1t out vituperating the hor-
ZION under their breaths-the wiser rolicy-
or 10 stand up for clean knock-down .,t
inc hands of the chief master-at-arms, fol-
lOWed Dy an enforced walk to the stick"
with the Legs clutching them by the 2rm
On every American ship of war there are
TWO or three inferior masters-at-arms blue
Jackets rated as SUCH to assist the chief
Legs Ihey are rarely needed. The aronar
Legs IS ubiquitous. and he sees il ali His
subordinate Legses only come in handilv
occasionally to jump to the side of The mn
Jor Legs when scrap of a determines
character Is on up forward. The very narnc
Jimmy Legs portrays the sailors con-
ceptlon or the on nipresent character OF tho
chiei masitr-at-2rms- 1t means tha; the
ships chief of police may be depen,.ed mon
10 be on hand when he Is particularly not
wanted. --''
Earns His Pay.
"A chlef master-at-arms earns his $40
month his days work lasts twenty-four
hours or course. he sleeps but his sleep
o a wifi
tive ear perpetually cooked. and one eve
always seeming to shine beneath a three
quarters-closed lid. The craggy naval day
OF the Legs begins at all hands when the
men turn out to clean ship. The chief bo'-
sun mate is nominally In charge of the
clean ship job. but the Legs is the real
boss The bo'sun's mate sees that the mon
SCRUB their stations TO the last degree Of
Ponsh' but the Legs sees that they do not
groWl over their work. Sleepy men are
pound TO growl- Sleepy sailors are not to
De monkeyed with. Thus, the seaman who
Is a slouch will fail TO clean Just the inch
OF his station that adjoias the station of
the seaman who is not a slouch The lat
ter protests and there are hard words in
the for ard vocabulary of warships The
siouch answers back, the officer of the deck
steps into the ward room for an instant
ana Is out of sight. and. bang, the two
seanen are together. The Legs is always
tEere- When he gets through with the
sleepy growlers-and he may merely look
at them from distance of two Yards at
Ihdt-they are willing To resume work The
Legs is the representative of the skipper
IN authority and the scrappers know H.
Mess gear for breakfast goes The men
rusn 10 the tables bluejacket with shoes
on rs feet steps on the foot of q bIueiacket
who IS barefoot. Bir. The Legs NAV he
way aft on the poop. watching the after
guards at their work. But the Legs Is a
man or instinct In a dozen bounds he
Is at the scene of the scrap
Chuck It! The Legs." is the word there
The scrappers break away. and when the
-1fTH vhslNT iii
at their mess table, peacefully taking
morning coffee.
Plenty of Excitement.
There are perhaps dozen incidents
of this sort every morning a man-o-war
None of them IS ever very serious, but all
Of them might be very serious were there
TO soft-footed. iron-muscled man, dubbed
tho Legs. aboard to infuse white-wnged
peace by his mere presence.
The next job of the Legs Is to attend to
tho men doubled-ironed IN the brig. He