The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-02-03
HER NAMEATTHE TOP
~. S. S. BROOKLYN" WENT ABOVE
"H. NJ. S. SPHINX"

". 8. 5. BROOKLYN" WENT ABOVE
"H. N. s. SPHINX"
of Uncl Sans Old Time Jack Tarn
That Thrilled the Hearts of a Whole
Ships Grew.
There was once another Brooklyn,
the f%orerunner Of the present armored
cruiser, but the old Brooklyn, which,
during the civil war, gained the name
of the Butcher Shop" had no resem-
blance to the floating fortress that
hurled destruction into the feet of Ad-
sliral Cervera.
The old ship bore a great spread of
canvas and had but auxiliary steam
power. Her lofty masts and creaking
yards would seem siDgularly out Of
place today, but they served their pur-
pose in their own time. Her p deck,
with double row of muzzle loading,
smoothbore guns, looked like q scene
from a medieval drama, and when she
went to sea the Tapping of the sails
and the snap of the cordage were not an
unwelcome lullaby to those who slept
beneath her cool white decks.
This old Brooklyn sailed one day
from New York, bound upon a rowing
cruise and eame in time to the Azores
islands, whe, sailed for Lisbon
and Gibraltar passing through the
Mediterranean and the Suez canal,
steamed slowly down the scorching Red
sea. A stop at Alden for a day or two
made her ready for a journey to the
Persian guilt, but when the gulf Of
Ormaz was reached the skipper thought
to take a look at Muscat, and so the
course was shaped for the capital Of the
son OF Abraham, whose forefathers for
hundreds, nay, thousands, Of years, had
been sheiks Of the desert.
In all her journey the good ship had
entered not a port where the proud
cross OF st. George could not be seen
from the staff of a British man of war.
but here at Muscat it was thought that
at least our flag would be the only token
OF western civilization in evidence. But
it was not SO, for, as the Brooklyn
rounded a high promontory that shut
in the little harbor, there, lying at an
Choir, was seen the English gunboat
Sphinx with her milk white flag float
ing above her.
Muscat had much that was strange
and weird to interest the Americans.
but neither the palace of the sultan,
with its double wall, between the two
parts of which are kept the tigers
whose duty it is to guard the palace at
night, nor the imperial harem's grim
exterior, nor the gorgeous apparel of the
sultan himself had half the attraction
for the westerners that the grim, sheer
race OF the ~promontory that shuts in the
harbor had, for there upon the bleak
wall OF this towering height were
painted the names Of many ships, and
high above them all, in a place that
seemed inaccessible. were the words,
III. M. s. Sphinx
The men of the Brooklyn stared at
that name day after day, until it seemed
into their brains. and the spirit
OF emulation grew within them.
The night before the Brooklyn was
sail for Persian waters there were
of a secret movement among
the crew, and after the night had fallen
still and black a boat pulled off from
the vessels side, and with mufhed oars .
made rapidly for the shore. It carried
many thingsof various sorts, and among
[hem q lantern, whose tiny glimmer
those on the ships watched with bated :
breath as 1t reached the shore and slow
y began the ascent Of the promontory. ,
Now it would disappear and then gilt !.
:er again like a star of hope and COM !.
and SO it went slowly on, ever up .
md up the face Of the outlined precipice. y
The hours dragged slowly by, and it :
vas far into the night when q tired :
crew olambered slowly over the
3rooklyn's side and dropped exhausted :
nto their hammooks for a short sleep Z
'efore the call of ''all hands, in the $
morning.
The Brooklyn sailed away just as the
un began to show above the eastern Il
'~orizon, and as she swung upon her ii
curse and stood for the waters OF the a
pen gulf q cheer burst from the throats o
T the whole ships company. For there, q
q great letters Of white that caught the y
warmth OF the rising sun, far above the, g
anne OF her majesty's ship Sphinx, far s
bove the highest name Of all, could be ii
een the legend ~. s. s. Brooklyn" a.
And there today. looking down upon g
tiger guarded palace and the harem a,
! the sultan, ever before the Arabs and f,
Belooohistanese of the tiny sultan
Ee, still CLEANS the magic name that
ohley and Cook once again made IA =
'ous and that shall endure in history = :.
hen Muscat itself shall be forgotten. ~
Washington Post. ~
How q Frog Hibernates.
According to Simon Henry Sage. the W
og does not hibernate in leaves or the lii
unks OF trees, but in a dry hole in the th
'ound not likely to freeze. He scratches yc