Evening star., 1898-04-22

the singing of fdeep-water beayy-weath.
er songs at the mess table after dinner
He sang the dffncult mass well, and the
| sw elling answ> rsato his intona tions by the
choir OF priests were beautiful and inspir-
| ing. Naval officers OF experience in every
quarter OF the WORKS afterward declared
fore. Three Of tie, tfumpeters of the band
sounded the Sanetusp and the "re Deum. -
Only about onesthitd of the members of
the crew present were Catholics, and not
| Honolulu belonged tOI the Church of Rome.
| yet the enthusiasm of all after the cere-
| mony was over was remarkable. 1t ap-
| peared that the bearded priests who assist
ed in the chanting OF the mass were very
rarely seen by the residents of Honolulu,
one OF the requirements of their order being
that they keep to; themselves.
A Peculiar Position.
The office Of ship chaplain in the United
| States ravy, to whatever religious denomi-
| nation he may belong, is a singular one.
| The chaplain must be a man of great
natural tact to preserve properly his some
what difficult relationship with officers and
| men. He is. of course. an officer. and lives
aft among the ward room officers but the
! fl notions of his office are mainly exercised
among the men forward In order to be of
any actual spiritual service to the men for
ward. he must move among them and enter
into their ideas. which are often peculiar
| and perplexing. Naval officers who were
attached to the Baltimore when that ship
was on the China station often speak of
the remarkable hold which the young ath-
ietfc Catholic priest uhe celebrant of the
high mass described) who served as its
chaplain got upon the affections of all the
biIe1ackets to man, well as upon the
esteem of the watch officers with whom he
lived aft.
This young priest was a first-rate boxer
ana ne often put en- the gloves with the
crack bluejacket sparrers On the ship
There was not man among them who
could handle him in boxing bout When
Sharkey, the now famous puglist, was
second-rate master-at-arms on the Phila-
delphia, this yourg priest donned the
gioVes with him and gave the expert boxer
plenty of exercise, too. He rather enjoyed
putting on the mittens with bluejacket
boxer of ruffianly Instincts ard giving him
a thoroughly good pummeling all in good
nature and as part of the game The men
whom he thus man-handled although COM
PEELED for while to pipe low and sing
small, like fellows just out from ten
days cruise in the brig in double irons
a1terWard became the priests sworn
friends. The commanding officer of he
baltimore often remarked to his officers
that this y-six-year-old priest could
reduce the bad men of the ship to subjec-
tion and decency good deal more effec-
lively and quickly than he himself could
with the aid of all his masters arms
ships corporals and double irons. He
talked with the men equal terms wrote
thelr letters Tor them II they were inSuffi-
GENTLY educated to write we'll themselves
took a personal interest in their little
affairs at their solicitation. and often in
terceded for them when they got them
selves into scrapes. either aboard ship or
ashore. He refrained from talking re-
| ligfon with them at all unless they ques-
| toned him. which they often did after
they got to know him pretty well, and
then ne talked with them straight from the
shoulder. without any superhuous beating
about the bush, which man-o'-war's men
| deteSt.
influence for Good.
Without any particular effort this young
| priest practically5put7 an end TO drunken
ness among the men forward on the Baiti-
more. His influence over them was such
that they gradually grew ashamed to lum.
ber over the gabgway drunk from shore
| liberty, SO that, in order to come off TO the
| ship sober and 10 meet the glance of :he
chaplain's big brown eye With as clear a
gaze they got into the habit of letting the
shore liquor alone: He made babies of the
| professetlly hard eases of the ships COM
| pGny forward, 50 that they dropped heir
swagger and brutality. He had hard work
| to keep the apprentice boys in shape for
naval apprentices. being young sappy an /
OF limited experiences can't see sense in
being anything but horribly devilish blades
" hlle they wear the, figure of-oight knots
| on their shirts. In, time, however, he
| brought them around SO they would fight
Aol nm. Inc inHuence ne eXerted was not
confined TO men Of his own religious faith
| His fair way of treating all hands brought
all of them into his camp in time At
| Hong Kong a party of English man-o'-
war men on a shore spree made some
sneering allision to the Baltimore's sky
pilot in the presence of a party of the Rai-
| timore's bluejackets. They were thrashed
| to within an inch of their lives, and on be-
ing let up were compelled to give three
| cheers and a tiger for the chaplain whom
| they had assailed with their mouths
Ihe man-o wars man hates to be caught
| red-handed In the act of performing some
| sort OF religious duty incident to his faith
This youthful priest confessed the Catho-
| lies among his bluejacket flock He
| would use the engineers log room as a
confessional on Saturday nights. The
| schemes to which the men would resort
IN order to attend this requirement of
| their faith without being observed by their
| mates were amusing. They would han-
| around the engine rooms for hours before
t the time set for the hearing of their con-
| LESSONS, and then pop into the log room
| with a rush, and pop out again looking
| guiller than when they went in. 1t was
| not that they were in anywise ashamed of
| saliormen hate to suffer the danger of
peconnng known as "long-eared," which
| Is the navy Vernacular for truly good"
| A WhoIe-SouIed Man.
Aft, this wrestling, boxing, running and
| hlgh-Jumpfng chaplain, who could beat all
hands in the athletic events on holidays.
was regarded as a splendid fellow by the
| oilcers. There are numerous chaplains in
| the navy whose mere presence at the ward
| room table exercises an unc omfortable re-
| slralnlng Influence. This was not the case
! on the Baltimore. The chaplain told a
| pretty good story himself, although he was
a dlSnihed man. and he was a critic in the
| matter OF cigars. He could and did sing
| Larboard Watch, Ahoy"' and 'Biow the
Man Down." with sweetness and effect,
and ne was able to calculate to the exact
| second the proper time to withdraw In
| order to permit the recital of story not
| exactly fitted for his hearing. In BRIEF he
was a successful chaplain. which is in som
| respects harder than to be a successful
| commanding officer.
Most of the chaplains of the United
| states navy, of whatever religious denom-
| nation, are devised of the same rough-and-
ready. frank, manly, OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
material Every chaplain who has ever en-
| tered the United States navy with the pur-
| pose of converting his ships company into
| angels has failed dismally In his attempt,
| and chaplains of that sort no longer wear
| the uniforms of Uncle Sam. The naval
chaplain the gist of whose argument with
| the rough generous fellows forward, blue
| jackets and marines, is Act on the level
| keep yourself on an even keel. and guard