Evening star., 1898-05-21

girls Tam o Shanter caps, most of them OF
white cloth, for warm weather wear. The
caps are not essentially different in shape
from the regulation sailor caps worn by the
bluejackets, but are got up with extreme
ornateness, in the matter of vari-hued and
cleverlyworked stars on the crowns. or
other devices eslected by the young
women purchasers. The men who make
these caps charge from IS to $40 for them.
and, considering that it often takes them
weeks, in between times. to make one OF
them, the price does not seem unreason-
able. crafty old bosun's mate OF the
cruiser Olympia-a cruiser the name of
which is pretty familiar to Americans
since the first day of May-did a fine stroke
of business, shortly after the Olympia went
into commission at the Mare Island navy
yard three years ago, by buying up all of
the stock of girls Tam O'Shanters that
he could get hold of from his mates at the
rate OF $3.50 apiece.
His mates were under the impression that
the Olympia was 10 start Immediately Tor
the China station, but this old DO sun
mate in some manner or another got hold
of the information that the ship was to
take in half a dozen or so of the hover
fieStaS that occur every spring in Callfof-
MAS southern coast cities, and he knew
that there would be money in girls caps
on this cruise. He sold the one hundred
and odd caps that he thus acquired to girl
visitors aboard the Olympia at Santa Bar
bara. San Diego, Los Angeles and other
California ports for so each, and the ex-
traordinarily broad grin that he wore while
he was working his monopoly was extreme
ly depressing to his mates who had sold
him the caps at such nominal figure.
Oriental Rug Makers.
Oriental making is another side line
of industry that a good many of our blue
jackets who have long been in the navy
practice in their spare hours. The Greeks
and Turks in the United States navy intro
duced this business and the American sail
ors picked it up from them Some very
beautiful rugs are made by these man-o'-
war handicraftsmen down below in empty
coal bunkeIS or in engineers store rooms,
where it would seem the workers have
barely enough light to make out their
hands before their faces, much less devise
the intricate figures exhibited in the fin
ished rugs. They have to work down below
at rug-making for the reason that COM
manding officers will not permit them to
have their frame on deck, on account of
their bulk, and in order to get these frames
aboard at all, the rug-makerS have to con-
struct them in detachable sections. Steady
workers at the rug frames have been
known to manufacture two or three hand
some rugs within a month, and the men
never have any difficulty in diSpoSing of
their products to visitors at good figures.
Rag carpet making is a pastime engaged
In by some of the men on the ships, but
not as a rule for profit. Engineer officers
are disposed to frown upon the rag CARPET
makers, for these workers have also to go
below to carry on their employment and
their job never seems to be done. The writer
recalls the rag carpet that an oiler on one
of the ships Of the Pacific squadron started
to make at the outset of a cruise few
years ago. The rag carpet, after six months
or so, grew to such an extent that the en-
gineer in charge was often in the habit of
hEmoroCsly protesting that he Wouldn't be
able to work the machinery If it kept on
growing. At the end of year the rag car
pet. which was patriotic affair of red,
Write and blue, took up the whole star
board side of the after engine room and
the oiler still working on It, to send to his
sister in Philadelphia, he said. When the
rag carpet began to infringe upon the space
required for the proper working of the
crcsShead slides of the after engine the
chief engineer called a halt.
Where In Philadelphia does your sister
live-in the public building?" he asked the
oiler. You've got enough rag carpet there
to cover one of these islands'-the shin
was at Hawaii. The oiler reluctantly wound
up the job and forwarded about half a ton
of red, white and blue rag carpet to his
Philadelphia sister from Honolulu.
Clever Machinfst.
The skilled machinists ABOARD our men
of-war are generally to be found tinkering
with some sort of mechanical device or
other, but these men, who are very well
paid and rate IS chief petty officers, do not
work for profit, but for amusement A
cnlef machinist>now serving on the Raleigh
which is with Dewey-made a watch
few years ago that was absolutely perfect
as a timekeeper, and he made 1t out of a
solid piece of four-inch bar steel, main
spring and ALL The watch was exhibited
at Californta's big exposition in 1895, and
was the marvel of visiting watch makers
From the Japs good many of our deck
sailors v ho have cruised on the China sta
ton have picked UP the art Of making bas-
relief portraits, flags and all sorts of de-
vices out of Vari-cOlOred glass heads II is
q sort of work that demands extreme deft-
ness and liGhtness of touch, and 1t is a
fact worthy of note that naval sailors who
1t makes them too nervous The glass