The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-10

| are stored up against him by his ship
mates, and they come back to him,
with hoarse ha-ha'S, when land and
sea are not so rOseate in his eyes-as
do the mellower utterances of civilians,
sometimes.
After the dinner, music In cold lati-
tudes music on the berth deck, under
cover In hot ATTITUDES, music on the
spar deck, in the open, under blue skies
fiecked with golden cirrus clouds; mu-
sic on the gun deck, music in the en-
CINE and boiler rooms, music in the
ward room (Which isn't important, as
this story only pretends to tell of the
holiday Of the enlisted mem;
music everywhere. The music is good,
Sailormen are as a rule fine singers.
The mobility and awesomeness of the
deep gets into their voices. They sing
good music, too, and eschew the Bow
cry, berry ballad. Their music pulls the
officers-lounging over their cigars in
the ward room-forward, and they can't
help but remain forward while the mu-
sic is going on. Mandolins, guitars, vio
Inns banjos, zithers-these, often skill
fully played, accompany the voices.
The effect is really beautiful when
the crew is notably musical. Pietro
Mascagni, the "Cavalleria" composer,
once heard half the ships company of
an American flagship on the Mediter-
ranean station sing the "Intermezzo"
from his melodious opera-the crew had
been drilled by the leader Of the band
Mascagni said that he had rarely heard
it better done, and he should be a
good judge.
AN INSPIRING OCCASION.
When half a dozen or so men-of-war
of different countries are anchored side
, 81 oil n
effect Of the music on Christmas day
is remarkable.
The crew of the Russian ship, for ex-
ample, will strike into the chant of the
solemn Russian hymn. AT its conclu-
sion there is a moment of silence, and
then the tars on the British warship
uplift their voices in God save the
queen. The next ship, perhaps, is a
Dutchman, and the Hollanders chant
the inspiring national air of Holland.
Then there is the laugh and blare Of
brass from the American ship, and, all
the crew joining in, 1.-THE star-spangled
banner" drifts across the waters. Thus
the answers from ship to ship like a
chain Of guards calling out their posts
1t gives one a sort of choking sensa-
| ton to hear the national air Of his
country voiced under these circumstan-
ces-the kind of sensation an American
|
worlds remote ports, sees the Amer
lean stars and stripes waving from the
mizzen of great full-rigged Bath ship,
a giant among pigmy ships, spreading
other flags, surrounding her.
| Then come the games. The games are
practically got up for the quarantine
men-those who, through misconduct,
are deprived for varying periods of time
of shore liberty. The games are of all
m oa1- &C.,,
games Of all sorts. The quarantined men
have all the fun they can out Of them,
| but their eyes take on a wistful look
1 When they see the liberty parties as
sembling at the gangway, the depart
/ ing men in their best uniforms, their
! pockets blinking with gold-for the
navy is sound n aney outfit, in that it
always pays off the bluejackets in
good, ringing yellow metal.
/ es, the quarantined men examine the
departing liberty parties wistfully.
Their time to laugh and gloat does not
come until the next morning, when the
men returning over the gangway from
their Christmas liberty occasionally feel
of their heads in puzzled kind of way.
in the endeavor to locate the exact
spots Of terrific cerebral aches. The
"post-Christmas head"-what blue
| jacket does not know it and recall il
mas liberty at Nagasaki, Japan, say,
where the brand of saki is maddening,
or at Mazatlan, Mexico, for instance,
where the pulque and mescal cause
level-headed men to run amuck, Malay
fashion?
In ports where the natives like to
boast of their aquatic prowess the crack
cutter crew Of a nan-of-war generally
has boat race on Christmas day. A
n hoe
shore crew rows its boat under the bow
of the warship. This is the challenge.
The man-o'war cutters crew is ex-
cused from duty, and goes into train
ing for the race Well, American man.
o'-wars men win such races in nine
cases out of ten. They are stayers. And
in most cases when the crew of a for
eign man-o'-war in the same port is
sues a challenge for cutter race with
the American man-o'-war' crew the
Americans win, too, and flaunt heavy
slush funds for a long time afterward
for lot of money is wagered on these
races.
This is no attempt to show that the
American sailormen are such infinitely
better men physically than the man-o'-
wars men Of other countries; it is a
mere statement of fact. The American
warship cutter crews have been sound
y iiShCd OCCdolOilduy III THESE races,
however, with depressing aftermaths of
gloom.
IN THE ARMY.
The soldiers of the United States
army do not have such a bad time Of ii
on Christmas day. They, too, some of
them, hang up their stockings on
Christmas eve-hang them to the foot
irons of their hunks. But the result in
the morning is different from what it
is in the navy. Socks and all are gone.
The soldiers, however, are willing to
donate pair of their socks to the per-
petuation of the Christmas stocking
custom
A Christmas day tour of guard duty
is a calamity that the old soldier can
not endure complaisantly. So is a
Christmas day turn at Kitchen police. "
The man who has been in the service
a long time begins about month before
Christmas to figure on the likelihood of
his catching one or the other of these
| duties on Christmas day.
The non commissioned officer this
all appeartains TO soldiers in garrison
stands in danger only of the Christmas
guard tour, but the private has to cal
culate upon the chances of his seIec-
ton either for guard duty or scullery