The age-herald., 1899-12-17

Are songs to take the place of grog in the navies of the future? Are the battles of the next century to be won by men whose patriotism has been aroused by the rhythm and melody born in the brains of official minstrels? It is said that the one great fault of the Spanish navy was that the human fighting machines who made up that body had no heart for their work.
 AS the result the enthusiastic patriots who sailed beneath the Stars and Stripes made short work of them. There must be some truth in this theory for it has been accepted without question by some of the greatest naval officials of the world and in France the new minister of marine has thought so well of the suggestion that he has adopted the plan for the navy of that country.
 In the future, therefore, the men who sail the seas beneath the flag of France will be accompanied by poet-singer, who like the bards of oh, will compose both verse and melody of the songs with which he will entertain and cheer them during their hours of leisure.
 Strange as this innovation may seem to such a practical human being as the aver age American those who are responsible
  fident that they have made no mistake. Already the official minstrel has won the hearts of the French seamen to whom he has sung and there has been much improvement in the service since his ap- poin tment that the naval authorities are already looking for other men in whom the gift of poetry and music have been nappily mated in brain so constituted that it can think only of sailors hopes and sialor's fears.
 Of course it is not easy to find such men but as soon as they can be found they will be engaged and it is believed that it will not be long before every squadron of the French navy will have its official singer. At present the only minstrel is attached to the Mediterranean fleet but the Atlantic and the Pacific squadrons are to have their own singer as soon as pos sible.
 The man who has the distinction of being the first official minstrel to the navy that the world has ever known Is Yam Nibor, a Breton sailor, whose natural adaptability for such a position instantly appealed to M. Lockroy That minister is one of those who believes that Spain's fail- ura on the seas was due to the half-hearted work of her marines and he was not slow to see the same fault in his own men. During his first trip of inspection he noticed that they had no heart for their work
 "Something must be done," he said, Tor they will fail us at the time of need. What they require is excitment. Not the excitement that might be caused by grog. Grog is bad for them and they must not have too much of it. It makes them heavy and what they need is something to make their hearts light. They want inspiration and"-one might imagine that such an idea emanated in the brain of a Locl<roy, Lock- roy. the son of an actor, Lockroy the son. in-law of Victor Hugo-"I will send them a poet"
 So instead of a dozen extra barrels of grog the new minister sent them Yam Nibor and while there was grumblng at first, today the men of the Mediterranean fleet would not exchange their gaunt poet singer for all the grog that the national treasury could purchase
 Yam is a huge creature, nearer seven foot high than six and great muscles stand out in knots all over his body. He was born in the old Corsair town of Saint Malo more than forty years ago and for thirty years he has followed the sea, first because he loved it and second, because it was the most natural way for him to make living