St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-03-18
EXERCISE FOR BLUEJAcKETs
tlons ON Modern Men.
Of.WaF.


Of-War.
The sunlight fading out of the clear
cold sky and flashing, crimson and gold
in the windows of the tall buildings
across the river engaged the attention
of Lieutenant Commander Rodgers, ex-
ecutive officer of the big white battle.
ship Indiana one afternoon recently
lie was commenting on the beauty o:
the picture when the officer of the deck
whose red nose and ears testified to tn,
sharpness of the breeze, approached
him.
"Shall We have the setting up eNer
cises ashore or on board. sir?" he asked
Mr.. Rodgers looked over the stretct
OF black soil which extended from the
waters edge to the Lyceum building il
the navy yard. The ground was froze.
hard and the sharp eye of the executive
officer could detect no mud holes.
Have It ashore" he said. The decl
officer saluted and went away. Eight
bells sounded, and the ships buglers be
gan to blow the call for evening quar-
tiers. One by one the officers struggled
up the companionways, buckling or
their swords and pulling on their gloves
Mr.. Rodgers stood in the lee of the after
turret and received reports from the
different divisions.
Engineers division all accounted for
sir" one messenger would say, an6
then scurry away to his quarters. The
marine guard formed on the deck abaf;
the superstructure. Lieut. Hatch, then
long-limbed, dark-faced. young com
mander, inspected them, and then ir
quick tones ordered them to march
Stiff as a ramrod he tramped at then
head down the broad gangplank to tn.
dock. It was the beginning Of an exc
dus. From forward and aft blue
jackets streamed over the ships side un
til nearly 500 men. the entire ships com
pany, were marching and counter
marching in the space between the shiI
and the navy yard building. They were
aligned in divisions. First they wert
put through the setting up exercises.
"Arms right" and right arms sho
out horizontally. "Arms down." The
extended arms dropped.
The perfect drill of man-o'-wai
showed in the regularity and precision
of the movements. Lieutenant Com
mander Rodgers stood in front of the
first division and gave the orders. which
were passed along from division officer
to division officer, so that in the per
formance of the motions each division
was few seconds behind that immedi
ately in front of it. The result was &
wavy effect, which was particularly
marked in the bending movements
when it seemed as IL a strong breeze
blowing bent the heads of each succeed.
ing line as it passed.
"Attention!" shouted Mr.. Rodgers
and the men stood motionless, lines OF
blue making gridiron of the field
Suddenly the blare Of the bugles rang
a drum was beaten, and then the notes
of Pop Goes the Weasel" rolled brisk.
ly out. Every division started to run.
It was the double time. The men ran
in columns of two. and the field seemed
covered with the long lines OF blue
jackets, wheeling this way and that
squirming in and out, every man in steI
with the others and in time with the
music. and the red leg stripes of the ma.
rines flashing amid the sober and stripe.
less wilderness of sailors legs. For /:
minutes the exercise was continued
and then the men returned to the ship
As they did so blue jacket walked te
the flagstaff and began handling the
halliards. The buglers began to play
"colors." Every man faced the flag.
which blew out straight and stih in the
strong wind, and stood at attention
The blue jacket pulled at the halliafds
and the stars and stripes came autter.
ing down. AS they touched the deck
officer and men lifted their hands in
salute. The day was officially at an end
on the battleship Indiana.
"This exercise is gone through at
evening and morning quarters on all
the ships in the navy" said one Of the
officers when all the men had gone be.
low. SIN the old ships the men got ex-
ercise enough in working the vessel.
There was rigging to be looked after
and many other duties had to be attend
ed TO which have no place in the life of
the modern man-o'-war's man. A bat.
tleship nowadays is hive into which
men are crowded. We must have them
for the guns and for the engines, but
there is little work to be done which
gives them open air exercise. So we
put them through the calisthenic exer-
else and the double time to timber them
up. Usually these exercises are per.
formed on the ship. but when the
ground is dry we send the men out
there on the dock where there is plenty
of room. They get a better chance for
the double time. and enjoy it much
more than they do on shipboard."-
Y. Sun.