The age-herald., 1898-06-05

bend the body forward as far as possible, then bend back to the same limit, stopping at straight up between each motion, be- cause Jacks brain cannot stand being sloshed around violently any more than anybody ese's. They lean over sidewise so to look up to the fighting tops with the right eye and then with the left eye. This motion is almost duplicated later on, when the same thing is gone through with, but in the later motion the arms are extended. That opens the upper part of the lungs.
 Then comes the hardest movement of all. The men stand stiff-legged, heels together. and bend over until the knuckles Of the closed fist touch the deck. It looks easy. Try 1t. If you are not in training you'll find that it isn't. Link your thumbs to& gether and swing for it, and if it doesn't stretch the muscles of your legs and back, then Jacks dead and Sal's widow.
 There are other motions of stepping out wide with one foot and then the other that show off the muscles of the upper leg to the best advantage, though the squat ting motion, perhaps, does the best of all.
 The skipper keeps an eye on such man, and if he thinks Jack is trying to dodge a little heath-giving exercise the chances are that there will be a little two hours extra duty ready for him.
 Keeping Him in Trim
 In the army these setting-up drills are the perquisite of new recruit. They lim- Der him up, and he is kept at 1t until he is so sore as a boil all over. But in the navy 1t is an every day thing. Maybe then his stomach would behave and he wouldn't dream about folling off roofs and things like that.
 Jack is undeniably picturesque, but never Is he more interesting to look upon than at this same Monkey drill" He looks well when he is swinging the big guns: "Ex- treme range forward Extreme range aft Expreme depression' Then you see him putting his back to it and doing his best to swing the long, glossy steel tube of gun in the best possible time, but the gun itself and the mechanism and the rest of the drill detraot the mind from the con- temptation of Jack himself as well-put-up man. The monkey drill acccentuated that.
 This is not to say that the man-of-war's man is always an Adonis or @ Hercules for manly beauty. Some of them, however, come pretty near it. Thep trousers are laced up at the back and fit so snugly above the knees that if they have any kind or 9 figure at all they look fine. The loose shirt gives a big look to the chest, and the'r necks being frfee, the muscles have more of a chance to develop than if they were boxed up in a starched collar and shirt. You can see the play of the muscles, and the monkey drill' is always pretty sight.
 Ready for Battle
 Admiral Sampson himself took part in this drill to encourage the men anu tno night before they expected the big battle he had got them in such condition that they were really anxious to fight.
 The gunner does not do hard work, but he must be an athlete or he cannot control the electric button with sufficient quick ness. The sailors must be ready to lower the boats at fatal shell, and climb down like cats ready to escape for their lives in case an unfortunate charge touches the ships magazine. All of this drilling ph31k him in condition for the fight.
 Great Britain made the discovery year ago that her sailors were too beefy and she changed her diet and gave them fewer potatoes and more cereal food. Uncle Sam's boys get beef twice day and pota- toes when they want them, as much fruit as can be shipped aboard and little grog for the stomachs sake. Very vigorous ex- ercises keeps down the fat.
 No one seeing sailor with rolling gait amble along the pavements with his hands in his pockets would suppose his day to be so strictly meted out and disciplined but let any average man exchange places for one week with a sailor aboard the New York and he will find that he is tired fel- low after he has lived Jack Tar's life for one day.