Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1899-01-04
R~E-ENLISILD SAILORS
A Second Term in tn Navy Gen.
orally Keeps Them.
Only About One-Iialf al the Men-o'-
Wars Men Enter Tor a q
Three Ncurs-Iiasy Times
of ONrr-Iime Ncn.

On the day after his cu'iSilHc"t for
a period Of three yeals "a ..,IivSa
mau-o,war's man begins ,u guIc ON
the amount of timr tia is 20 H. =
veue before his discharge. / las two
years and a butt TO do, the butt
being the remaining IL months and
20 days of the first year. On the day
following his completion of the first
year of his enlistment he has only a
year and a butt TO get through. No
matter ir the butt is only Il single day
under n year in length, the bluejack-
cts contemplateS the term with the
blaudest cumplaisance; it Is not, at
any rate. a whole year, even though
it he 3Gi days, and this fashion of
thruttling each year of his service
makes him happy; it seems TO bring
his discharge. and the more or less
tempestuous joys he carefully maps
out long before his discharge, within
closer range. When he has put in Is
months of an eulis mcnt, he breaks
out the homeword-houud rcnnant; he
is going down the hill; and when he
has finally achieved two years and has
only the butt TO accomplish. joy fills
his cup.
Once a sailor always a sailor" is not
strictly true of m~en-O,war's men of
the American navy. Only about one
hall Of the men who complete the en-
1fZsV,A,,t E1ir, G,r tttntl,r 1r.a-4-aar
cruise. But about nino-teEihs of the
men who put in tive" cruises settle down
10 a lifc-long continuance in the sery-
ice, Six years Of navy life seem TO
thoroughly %inOculatr them with what
the Germans call wanderluSt. When
a hlUciurkgt passes . few of his SUM
merS in The latitude of the North Cape
and a couple of hi. winters down
among the licrmudas or in the salubri-
Gus South Pacific he X likely TO acquire
a dislike for the climate Of the United
States, and this diSlik" has more weight
than anything else in forming his de-
cision To remain in the navy. More
over, after a few years in the navy the
blueiacket seems TO become possessed
of the odd idea that he is really doing
nothing aboard ship TO earn his pay
that the perpetual scurry in which he
is kept from all hands in the morning
until pipe down AZ night is really not
work, and with this quaint notion he
also acquires an exceedingly exagger-
ated idea of the terrific amount of
grinding labor a man has TO perform
in order to gain a livelihood ashore.
Put to a blueiacket who has put in n
couple of naval cruises the direct ques-
ton: "Are you going to ship over
when your time is ort?" and, in nine
cases out of ten, he will look you in
the eye with an expression of stupefac-
tion and inquire:
what do you think I'm going todo--
work."
Overtime men being shipped back TO
this country on n man-of-war are not
compelled 10 do any OF the ships work;
they simply stand the military calls,
eat their meals and smoke their pipes,
watching the while with lazy happiness
the daily round Of labor of the less for
tunate bluejackcts attached as mem
bers of the crew Of the ship on which
they themselves are practically passen-
gers. The overtime men occasionally
emit arrogantly humorous directions