Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-03
GIRLS ON NAVAL VESSEL

American men-o-war's men Of the ward
room. az well as OF the fo-c'sle, like to en-
tertain their young women friends aboard
snip on the home stations. II they happen
TO be aft girls, the temporary guests and
prizes OF the ward room officers, they are
generally pressed to remain aboard for q
Dit OF luncheon. good many young wo-
men balk at this proposition-not that they
see the slightest improperly in it, but be-
cause It is an ordeal even for very bright
girls, this luncheon aboard an American
man-of-war. American girls who have done
their bit Of ship visiting unite in saying
that they wish American naval officers
hadn't fallen into the strange, embarrass-
ing habit of considering their countrywo-
men all as brilliant angels right down from
above; that they have to be on their mettle
every instant to keep from falling from the
standard.
Neither officers nor men of a man-of- war
expect to have much left in the way of
small gear after a visit from feminine
friends The girls never ask for these
things, of course. but they never fail to go
ashore with enough to stock burnboat.
Anything that an American girl sees on
board an American man-o-war and likes
she gets. If she could carry six-inch rifles
the officers aft would probably give her
few. The bluejackets are just as generous.
Every American warship in commission
carries about ten times the number of cap
TlpuOliS ever likely W Dt EeQutIeu 1OI lhc
use of the changing crews. These extra
cap ribbons are for the girls. They are not
officially made for the girls, but it is an
understood thing that the girls are to get
them. They cost the officer or bluejacket
who draws them from the paymaster's
stores Is cents each. but If they cost the
officer or bluejacket SIS each the girls would
get them just the same.
Petty officers in our navy are always shy
on rating badges for their watch arms after
their ship has been invaded by the girls
The girl innocently remarks that the an
Choir or pair of crossed guns or exploding
shell or silver wheel on the petty officers
arm is pretty. She doesn't have to say
anything else. The petty officer makes for
his ditty box for his scissors and cuts the
rating badge Off his arm before the girls
eyes for her. Then he has to draw on the
paymaster for another rating badge. The
chief petty officers, who wear braSs-but-
toned uniforms, often go buttonless for
day or SO after the girls have been aboard.
They lop the buttons off their blouses for
the girls and then have to stand by for
more buttons at the paymaster's office. The
bluejackets will give the girls anything
they happen to possess or don't happen to
possess, for that matter.
There was an equipment yeoman on board
a ship that visited the San Diego flower
fiesta few years ago who fitted out the
girls he escorted around his ship with pc
culiar souvenirs. In his store room he had
a couple of hundred old-faShioned wrist
irons that had done a lot Of duty in
Squelching the Righteousness of brigged
sailors. A board of survey had been held
on these irons, which were out of date, and
they had been condemned. 1t was the yeo-
mans business to turn them in at a navy
yard store room at the first opportunity,
so that they could be officially thrown on
the dump. He made better use of them by
giving them to highly appreciative young
women who honored him with their COM
pany visits about the ship. The girls
tied little ribbon bows to the wrist irons
and valued them highly as implements that
sailormen. The skipper had the yeoman at
the mast for his nervy disposition of gov
eminent property, but the man was not
punished for his offense. relieved as it was
by such amiable gallantry.
Officers aft hang on to the anchors and
other silver and gold devices attached to
the collars of their blouses as long as pos
sible but most of them sooner or later rip
them Off and hand them over to young wo-
men who like the workmanship of the de-
VICES. The cleverness of American girls in
thus hypnotiZing sailors of all nations is
remarkable splendid Russian battle ship
steamed into New York haroor few years
ago, and when her ganSways were spread
for visitors the New York girls went
aboard the Russian man-of-war in droves
Part of the uniform equipment of every
Russian naval officer is a dagger The
&c ggers are beautifully devised affairs, the
hits of them heavily wrought in gold.
There wasn't a dagger On that great Rus
sian ship of war two days after the New
York girls began to visit the cars vessel,
but there were many scores of Russian
naval daggafs hanging by little chains in
the boudoirs of the New York girls.
On ship visiting day in an American
port barrel of round bareback, standing
open in man-o'-war alleyway, is a sight
the young women can't very well resist
The navy bareback is circular in shape, and
about four inches in diameter. The girls
all get a handful each of the biscuit and
carry them ashore to paint ships and sea-
scapes on their rough surfaces Another
nrtb pIa of uniform that the hupj cketS of
our navy cannot hang on to when the girls
get aboard their ships is the neckerchief
The United States bluejacket's neckerchief
is handsomely woven affair of the finest
black silk. 1t costs the bluejacket close TO
80 Nevertheless there is a general un-
loosening of neckerchiefS when the young
women are aboard, and the skipper. when
he inspects his neckerchief1ess crew at
Quarters on the following morning before
the men have had time to draw necker-
chiefs from the paymaSter, doesn't punish
the men for being out of uniform, but NUT
tiers something about the power of beauty.
There is saying in the navy nowadays
that "if you want a jackknife ask coal
HEAVIER for the loan of his There's a lot
OF truth in the saying. The deck hands
among the bluejackets resign their huge
knives to young women visitors time after
time in the course of cruise. The coal
beavers, being stationed down below, are
immune from plundering by the girls.
deck bluejacket just about finishes fine
knife lanyard for himself, that he has been
plating and weaving for several months
to wear with his mastering uniform for
shore visiting, when a girl from ashore
comes along and looks it away" from him.
That is the way the sailors express it
'looks it away from me-" the idea being
that when girl gets her eye on any article
in the makeup of the man-owars man
she converts it to her own use by that pro-
cess. When a bluejacket hasn't much left
in the way of small gear to dish out to the
young women visitors he races aft and gets
a pound plug of tobacco from the pay yeo-
man for her. The girls like to get these big
bricks of tobacco, which they beribbon and
preserve, for the navy tobacco, of rock-like
hardness, Is an enduring souvenir.
LOCAL EXPANSION.
The Fierce Gentleman and the Oblig-
ing Express Clerk.