The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-15
LIBRARIES ON WAR SHIPS.
Books That Are Popular with Amer
lean Sailors.
New York Evening Sun.


When the jack tars on board the battle
ship Texas. in obedience to orders, chopped
up and threw overheard the greater part
of the ships library for mental food for the
fishes down in the Cuban waters, three
months ago, they begrudged their fnny
neighbors the gift and have never ceased
to regret it. 1t was not for the sake of
saying that their ship had one of the finest
libraries in the navy-though that was true
and all the ships men Boosted of t-but in
the long hours of enforced idleEess. when
the ship was on patrol duty or waiting or
ders. Jack began to realize that he had
opportunities for storing up knowledge, and
was not slow to discover how much a good
book was worth to him and how much one
could be missed.
1T is better that we lost them, for we
might have been burned and wrecked if a
shell had struck them,' said a tar. I'VE
wish that we had them back, now that we
are safe and the ship was not hit any
where near them" In his remarks the
sailor voiced the sentiment of nearly the
whole crew of the ship, but, as he had to
ADMIT, there are some men among them
who never so much as touch a book.
There are three classes of men on every
ship said the same tar, in speaking of the
as most of them are boys. read sea stories
and novels, and some of them are not salts
ned with that but bring detective stories on
board They read all that there are of these
good stories on the ship, and when they
have learned more sense they turn to and
read with the other class They read his
torres or all the countries in the world, and
they dote on accounts of naval battles On,
yes, we read about the soldiers and the land
battles, too, but that comes laCer. You
Know, the boys come on board with lot OF
notions about the sea and all that, but three
months out takes all that out of them.
They read tales for Iawhe, and by and by.
when they have got their sea legs on and
have been called before the mast time or
two they come down peg ana get some
sense. Then, besides that, you see, they
hear US other fellows talking about the his
tories, and then they begin to read them,
too, and learn a lot. They think they know
IL all first OFF, but by ana by they see they
don't, and if they are any good they get to
work, but if they are not they just Keep on
III their old ways and never know anything.
NOV, ever since the war IN CUBA U>-1aa
we boys have been reading the historic 5
about Cuba and Spain. We read about all
a tIetty good idea of the whole thing. We
dun forget what we were fighting for
AIttr we read about the Spanish Armada
We never doubted that we would lick them
just we did. We have read about the Eng
llsn navy, too, and, while We feel that with
han a chance we could whip them or any
Other nation on earth, we have a great deal
more respect for them as fighters than We
had for the Spaniards. We all admired
admiral C6EVefaS nerve. we nave read
about the French and the Italians, too, but
We are not afraid of any of them, with all
their ships and guns.
The yeoman-usually the navigating off,
GERS yeoman-who is the ships libra rian
says that the tar told the truth As Jack
says, the yeoman is the best.read man on
the ship outside of the WardrOom and he
il is who guides Jack in much of mis- reading
after he mas passed that stage in his life
atiOat when tales are the only reading mat
ter which attracts him. Jack goes to the
ye0manS office and mentions the subject he
wishes TO read. and if it is on Sunday, the
day when books can be drawn the woman
hands out tie book that Jack is after and
charges 1t to his account. 1t is not an I'M
common sight on board a man-of-war on
quiet day, either when the ship is in dock
or out at sea, to see a group of sailors lis
tening intently to one of their fellows who
is reading from some history or standard
story book. Son. etin.eS the yeoman is
called from his little Office to explain some
knctty phrase or interpret some obscure
passage. In many cases the reading ends
with a general talk upon the subject, in
which many new facts not in the book are
brought out by some sailor who happens
to have special knowledge on the subject.
Capt. Miller. of the receiving ship Ver-
mont, who won his shoulder straps before
the ships library came INTO existence. says:
The library is an incentive to education,
and mas done much TO raise the intellectual
standard of the Yankee sailor
Nowadays Jack must be able to read and
write before he can enlist, and after he has
once donned his sailors garb many infiu-
ences are exercised to encourage him to
learn. The officers whose duty II is to give
the recruit his first lessons in the many du-
ties which become his when he has attained
the rank of seaman refer him to the books
for Information TO the why and where
fore of many things and that is one Of the
many reasons why the books on mechanics