Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-13
THE ASTORIA SMOKER.

Here is a veracious account of the AS
torla smoker" rendered the officers and
men of the Raleigh, dictated by Yeoman
l.. S. Young, editor of the Bounding Bill
lOW:'
I'VE came ashore at seven bells. After
we passed clear in our muster buds we
laid aft, everybody, clean down to the
ships jumpers, all in u homeward
FOUNDERS. We Steered Off into a tug,
sheared the old Hooker and made for the
beach. When we set foot on the hotaba a
lot of fellows wanted to cut loose and
sheer off from the crowd; but Coxswain
Way, who was boat steerer for the occa-
sion. told the boys that they must show
their appreciation Of the kindness of the
people of New York. So we all fell in line
and laid a course about due east.
when we came alongside this VALID
orf-Astoria the rig Of the craft kind of
dazzled us. Some wanted to cut loose
and drift away, but the rest said they
would stick by the ship. We anne upon
the spar deck of the Hooker and some
plot steered us up to a place where we
gave up our red top hampers and a plug
gave us a red C hip for them.
1--WE laid a course back from the lock-
err, where we gave up our hats, put our
helms hard a-starboard and brought up
in a room-like cabin that beats the skip
pcr's stateroOm ell hollow 1t looks like
I theater and has a ~sure-enough stage.
ut was covered with flags and all kinds
OF silk topsails and studdin' sails and roy
ais. Some were reefed with big ropes and
tied with tassels. The guy that reefed
was not a good sailor, because he didn't
know how to tic a squar knot, and left
too many Irish pennnnts. There were
trees all over the place, and chairs all
gold. Some guys thought we had struck
the Klondike, and they wanted to- bulge
these chairs.
'"There were men flying about in short
hobs and clawhammers tina would draw
nails from a Spanish curio chest. There
were ladies in the gallery who were all
dressed ship. They had their spar cov-
crs off and wore their running gear. They
were a sight for sore eyes.
"As soon as we got in this cabin we
took stations for stays, let go our wealth.
er anchor and moored for the night. Then
some Johnny CrepaudS came around and
dropped mugs Of beer-and say! dn't
that beer taste good after the hot wealth.
er at Manila! We wet our whistles until
we were pinned to be bo'sun's mates.
Every one of them could give an old scow
pointers on piping; but there wasn't a
guy that wanted to pipe Delay. None of
us were anxious to vast heaving SO long
as there was q mug in sight.
"Tne first course was nothing like 4
course under the goose wing. 1t Knocked
Joe Lyons clam chowder all hollow. The
pug that rassled the dishes told us it was
oyster stew. Say! it was dream in the
midnight. Thu seas of Already amt in 1t.
The next thing he brought us-Td be
guessing yet if some guy with a ballroom
education hadn't told me-was a croquet.
and I was looking for the.mallet. He told
me | wasn't to scott them, and l slowed
them under my REFER. / thought it was
about time to quit the grub racket.
"Somebody nudged me and l looked up
and saw as pretty a little craft as ever l
laid eyes On, wearing and lacking all
around the stage. She was rolling and
pitching like a forty-gun frigate in the
Bay Of PisCay, and at every heave She
would show us as pretty a pair of spars
as | would wish to see, but she was pretty
well housed, and l couldn't tell much
about the cut Of her jib.
II was sorry to see them go, but l SAIL
ed into a frozen chicken they called ice
cream. If we had had ice cream to eat in
Manila with our a rmor plate bareback it
would nave been all right: but without
ice cream, give me New York and the
Waldorf-Astorla.
1.-THE whole show was out of sight
and the fellows, could have stood a lot of
it. We kept clean decks, but we didn't
wash down too often.