The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-06-08
Fun ON the Oregon.

Cadet Cyrus II. Miller of the Oregon
writes letter from Callao in which he
tells how, when the ship crossed the
equator, the old ceremony of the board
ing of the ship by Neptune was OBJ
served. incidentally he mentions the
effect of the equatorial sun, which made
the deck in the room 80 hot he could
not stand on it in bare feet, sending the
mercury up TO 1909, driving everybody
up under the awnings on the upper deck,
while the firemen in the hold sweltered
under 1909 of heat. The ice machine,
however, furnished cooling drinks, of
which one can drink copiously in such
temperature without injury. Of the
ceremony he says:
"On March 81 we crossed the line
(equator), and as we then entered the
domains of Neptune he came on board
to welcome us, especially those who had
Jackies made an imposing king, with
his crown and trident, and his wife
Amphitrite, cut stunning figure with
long blond hair made out Of manila
rope. The imperial pair were followed
by the court, composed OF judge and
secretary Gin rather battered dress
suits) numerous policemen, who were
distinguished by their immense size
and huge stuffed clubs.
"The costumes were ridiculous in
the extreme, but could never begin to
describe them. All hands were called
aft on the quarterback to muster. Nep-
tune was received by the captain, who
turned the ship over to him. The god
of the sea then surveyed the horizon
carefully through the binoculars "a
couple of beer bottles dashed tOgether)
and then made very pretty speech in
which bullfrogs, mermaids, and tad
poles were prominent. He promised
immunity from sharks, seagulls, water
snakes, and NAL de mer, to say nothing
of thousand terrors of the sea that l
have forgotten. We then adjourned to
the upper structure, where court
opened. Neptune took his place on the
bridge and every officer on the ship was
summoned to appear and prove, if he
could, that he had crossed the line be-
fore. If he could not bring two wit
nesses to support his word the judge
was under the painful necessity of or
dering him to pay the customary tribute.
The tribute was number of bottles of
beer, so that you can see how painful
1t was for the poor judge whe~ --vuu
in the heat and coniured up visions of
ice-cold bottles. The officers having
been disposed of, the crew was then
taken up. Proceedings were changed a
little, for the first man that failed to toe
the mark as to proofs was seated on a
stool, and two new personages now
came into view. One had the lather
nfh
being ready (although it was much bet
ter to catch him unprepared), the shaw
ing brush "a good-sized paint brush)
was plunged into terrible mixture OF
eggs, flour, mOlasses and vinegar, and
a heavy coating of the lather applied all
over the victim. The neck, hair, back,
and every other exposed place was re-
membered, sometimes in a way far
from delicate, for the slap of the brush
could be heard all over the deck. The
man with the long wooden razor next
got in his work and shaved the poor un-
fortunate in a way that caused him to
swallow number of teaspoonfuls of
the lather. When the torment was car
ried far enough in that line the stool
was given quick jerk and the victim
shot the chutes from the bridge to the
deck below, where canvas tank with
four feet of salt water was rugged.
"Here he was waited for by the bears,
who ducked him numerically, beat him
with their clubs, and 30 abused him that
when he finally emerged from the place
Of torture he really did not know where
he was at. So on with about 400 men
Occasionally the man in the chair would
smile while the lather was being ap
piled. This the barber promptly stopped
by plunging the brush into the mis-
creant's mouth.-Milwauke Sentinel.