The age-herald., 1898-12-04

at all uncommon for an officer. when he
 knows the,ca to be genuine and the man wants money to send home, to advance some and make himself personally respons sble for it. The wise officer never lets
 man have all the money that is due him 1 that is, which Is equivalent/to his pay up
 to date-for the men have been known to 1 desert, and after having lively spree ana l using 1t alto enlist under another name.
 Every young officer goes through this ex-
 perience and literally pays for it. | SOLICITOUS FOR THE GOvERNMENT. | When the officer believes the request l for money to be fake he not unnaturally l refuses it, and the mems serious and per ] fectly respectful comments are most anus 1 ing. One of them short time ago had l le ave, and as it was some time since the 1 paymaster had been around, and the man
 had had leave in the meantime, the oincer
 was pretty well certain that the money l which the man came to him and asked for
 was to be blown in,'' and he did not care to advance it..
 I'm afraid T. can't let you have it." he said. Its some time now since the pay master was here, and there. isn't any money on the ship to spare"
 "Yes, sir" answered the man respect fully, "of course wouldn't think of embar- rassing the government"
 He had asked for $2.
 Embarrassing the government IS a phrase the men are fond of using, whether because they simply like the sound or It or appreciate the full sarcasm of 1t no one knows But they trot It out on all oc- casions.
 A man applied for some small stores shoes, cap and several other things of the like-but they had run out and there were none for him.
 "The things ought to have been here
 several days ago." 7, the officer said "I'll try to hurry them up."
 "Tbank you sir,' said the man, "but don't
 embarrass the government on my ac- count"
 AID FOR THE WORTHY. When any of the mems families go to
 the officers and tell a straight story of re-
 uuiring assistance they never fail to re- ceive it. As an instance of that not long
 ago a woman went to one of the ships, car
 rying in her arms small baby, and asked
 for the captain. She was taken to him
 and said she was the wifes of one of the men on board, calling him by name, and that he had sent her money for so long that she was entirely without. and had come to know if the captain could do some thing for her He sent for the executive officer (nothing can be done on board snip without that worthy), who heard the wo- mans story and then sent for the ships books. Investigation showed that there
 was at that time $6 due the man on his pay, although the paymaster was not due for
 several weeks yet, and further investiga- tion showed that the man was in the brig for overstaying his leave, after having un- doubtedly been on a spree. An order was given to bring the man up before them, which was done, and there was no douot as to the truth of the woman's story The upshot of the thing was that the captain gave an order that $5.50 should be given her. t1Fat fnn baby the woman went home with the money. and fifty cents remained still due the man in order to keep him from desert- ing when his term of imprisonment was over.
 Funny things happen on a receiving snip as far as the men are concerned. All men who enlist are sent to the receiving ship until they are drafted onto seagoing vessels that require men and the officer who puts the men through the physical ex- animation at one yard is man who has been there for years and whose memory is so remarkable that he has never been known to forget man who has come be- fore him, whether the man passed or was rejected.
 Not long ago the executive officer of that especial ship was told that there was a lady out on the dock who wanted to see him. z ''why didn't you bring her into the ward room?" asked the officer. "Well sir" said the man. hesitating, TT don't think she's the kind of lady that you would want to ask on board" = The officer took the hint and went out on the dock to be confronted by a startling ap- partition. The woman was quite young and gowned with a strikingness that made it. self heard, and she was English of the most pronounced cookney sort. She said she was there looking for a certain. man whom she believed had enlisted within a | few days. When asked what nationality he was. she said: "Hamerican" "But you are English" said the officer Yes, but she had met him on board ship coming over; they had only landed two days before, and he had disappeared, and from what he had said she drought he
 might have gone to the yard to enlist. The officer didn't know, but would find out, so he sent for the man of remarkable memory who makes the physical examina tions. To him the woman described the missing man; he was blonde. tall wore mustache, and other marks of a non-specific nature. The description was too general, she was told was there not some special mark? scar or something of that sort?
 "Oh yes" she said with cheerful frank ness and her coclsney accent, "there was bad scar on his leg"
 "How do you know?" flashed the officer. Incidentally no such man had been there-