Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-02
Sailors and Soldiers Delight in Oele-
brating Christmas
IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD
Customs Dear to the Hearts of
the Boys in Blue.
EX NGING GREETINGS
Written for The Evening Star.

the great day. Wherever Inefe is an
American man-of-war there is sure to be
an American Christmas. Swinging to her
mud-hoo in the harbor Of Montevideo or
Shanghai, or walowing in the teeth of a
typhoon no United States warship ever
neglects Christmas. Crossing the equator,
all hands sweltering on deck in white uni
forms, or cautiously ploughing the scrap
ice of northern seas, all hands freezing in
pea coats always shrills the whistle of the
gangway DO suns mate on the afternoon of
Christmas eve and always issues from his
lips with husky resonance the transmitted
command:
"All ha-a-nds dress ship!''
Whereupon, in deep surgfng sea, or quiet
coral harbor, ali hands LAY aloft' from the
spar deck to yards, ridge ropes. and fight
ing tops. and begin the work of decking
the ship out in her gala finery. From below
the signal quartermaster, who is general
ly deep-water man almost from his era
die, directs the work. The men attire the
ship with the pains and pride of new
string the flags of the world from fore to
mizzenmast and give each banner little
dabs of adjustment, like girls setting rib
bon bows right. In port they pile gun and
spar decks with green stuff from shore. In
tropical ports the cold evergreens of the
north are supplanted by coverings palms
and tree-like ferns, whole sailing-launch
lcduS OF Iitll Drought JIOul outrageous
tropical beaches. that the decks look
like ball rooms. and the dangerous spirit
of the southland obliterates the memory
of the raw, while-mantled north. The
waste of turquoise of emerald waters forms
d robIe color basis for the ships streaming
mass of brilliant bunting when the ship is
at sea.
Exchanging Greetings.
Then, the white American man-of-war,
thus draped. the starry jack fiuttering from
the nose of her, the big holiday stars and
stripes Tapping at the mzzen, meets, say,
a British cruiser in the middle of the In
dian ocean, the English boat equally ornate
fore and aft. Alongside each other the
ships pause like u pair Of little boys IN
their Sunday clothes. sizing each other up.
The signal flutters from the signal-yard of
each: Peace on earth, good will to men"
From both decks the command, "All hands
cheer ship!' and ell hands on both vessels
have manned the yards in a jiffy. From
each ship three huge cheers and a tiger.
Then the clang of engine-room bells the
dulled rumble of screws, and both ships
are pitching on to the purple horizon, the
signal "A Merry Christmas" still futtering
from each foreyard
This. no doubt, is pretty. But on a Christ
mas at sea the men forward are pretty
likely to have little more than salt horse
and cracker hash for their Christmas din
ners. So the bluejacket of the American
navy likes to spend his Christmas In port.
Any port. Satlormen are unprecedented
There is fun to be had in any old portland
food, Christmas food. And then, at "a,
stockings cannot be hung up very we'll for
there IS too much jumping in and out Of
hammocks, going to stand watches and
turning in from the same. Hang up stock
ings In the navy? Surely! There is some
thing pathetic in tho loneliness Of new
regulation socks one sees hanging from
hammock hooks on the berth decks of
American men-Of-war on Christmas eve In
the morning they are found to be filled,
for the with fine 61sfy
scraps OF saltwater soap, or cans Of bright
work paste. But the blueiacket who hangs
up his socks is satisfied. He has hung ,nem
up, anyhow, and for a time, perhaps, his
mind is suffused with the vague, distant
memory Of tin horns breaking the stiffness
OF other Christmas mornings.
Christmas in Port.
In port, the bluejacket jumps into his
mastering uniform as soon as he turns out
on Christmas morning for he has little
work to do. At 0 o'clock he falls in with
his division on the spar deck and stands
the commanding officers inspection. Then
it is all over for the day. The saiorman
is at liberty to loaf. Breakfast on Christ
mas morning on a warship is a bagatelle.
The men take a cup of black coffee, but
many of them decline to eat The time has
not come. BY the time noon mess gear
is shriiied by the DO suns mate they have
taken a reef or two in their trousers and
are standing by for the meal Of the year.
Christmas dinner on a man-of-war, for
ward, Is fine meal when the ship is in
port One gets worse a pretentious hos
telries ashore. Plum duff is only an item
A reporterialsm-"th table groans." 1t
does. literally. though, for the mess table
Is swung upon creakIng chains. The tables
are supplied with beer. The talk if not
veneered, is crisp and bright. Beer con-
duces to sentiment, but no man-o' wars
man dares to give voice to any feeling OF
sentimentality, for, 10! the man-o' wars
mans words in rel0y cd stored
UP against him by his shipmates. and they
come back to him, with hOarse ha-ha 5,
when land and sea are not SO roseate in his
eyes-as do the meloWer utteranceS of
civilians, sometimes.
Pleasures of Music.
After the dinner, music In cold ATTITUDES
music on the berth deck, under cover. In
hot ATTITUDES, music on the spar deck, in
the open. under blue skies fecked with
golden cirrus clouds; music the gun
deck, music in the engine and boiler rooms,
music in the ward room (Which isn't i'm
portant, as this story only pretends to tell
of the holiday-making of the enlisted mem;
music everywhere. The music Is good.
sailormen are as rule fine singers. The
nobility and awesomeness of the deep gets
into their voices. They sing good music
too, and eschew the Bowery, berry ballad.
Their music pulls the officers-loungfng over
their cigars in the ward room-forward. and
they can't help but remain forward while
the music is going on. Mandollns, guitars,
violins. ban5os. 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 Mediterranean station sing the In
termezzo" from his melodious opera-the
crew had been drilled by. the Leader of the
band. Mascagni said that he had rarely
heard 1t better done, and he should be e.
good judge. ~
An Inspiring Occasion.
When half a dozen or s, men-of-war OF
different countries are anchored side by
side, as occasionally happens, the effect OF
the music on Christmas day IL remarkable
The crew of the Russian ship, for eX-
ample. will strike into the chant of the
solemn Russian hymn. g At its conclusion
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 Hol-
landers 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. The Star-Spangled
Banner drifts across the waters. Thus
the answers from ship to ship like csain
of guards calling out their posts.