Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-11-26
The Courage Of a Coward.
NRRY ROBINSON. took
BY Edwin J. PARK.

to Philadelphia in coastwise schoon-
er which car. coal in one direction
and lime in the other.
Jerry had been on the cOastwise
hookcrs three years, long enough for
the habits of the farm from which
he came to be superseded by those
of the deep sea sailor man, and to get
him shipped as an ordinary seaman
when he appeared before the recruit
| ing officer.
We got Jerry at Newport, when he
and Il miscellaneous assortment of am
ateur and professional fiatfeet came
over the side of the Columbia, which,
with the Minneapolis, was cruising off
! the Massachusetts coast, looking for
an often reported but never seen Span
iSh squadron.
Some of the outfit we took aboard
| were ordinary landsmen, and didn't
| pretend to be anything else; Il few of
them profcssod TO have been sailors
and then gave themselves away by
/ talking about going upstairs and down
stairs. and referring to the front and
/ hind" ends of the boat instead Of
saying fore" and aft" and it took
no time at all for the ships company,
! especially that part OF it composed of
Mulligans, and most of the Columbia S
/ crew was made up of Mulligans, TO
1 rate the recruits for just what they
were. Mostly they were of that de-
/ gree of ineXperience which classed
/ them as farmers" and Il farmer"
aboard ship is the i'rookie" of the
/ ranks Of the army, Il thing TO despise
and be picked on and generally NAL
treated by the rest of the outfit, and
especially the A[uligan part of it, I'M
I'll after great humiliation of spirit and
countless hard knocks they have been
battered into semblance Of real sail
ors.
Jerry Robinson, as | have said, had
learned enough of the sea on the hook
crs to distinguish port from starboard;
he could coil down a rope as neatly
and snugly IS the chief bo'sun's mate
himself, and he cou.d splice hawser
until it took an expert to tell where
the work had been done; and still he
of things that Lad to be done ON n
warship and of the tenets OF the eti-
quette which prevailed on the ber,h
deck.
One of the unwritten rules forward
is that recruit aboard ship can never
have a good standing with his ship
mates until he has whipped the first
g
ders, or, failing in that, has given him
as desperate Il fight as his strength
and science will allow.
1t is equally rs important that new
man shall refuse to obey orders given
by any member of the crew who j.
not Il warrant officer or who has not
Il rating, because the old shellbacle
have from time immemoral, and
doubtless will always continue it, had
a habit Of Issuing orders to new men,
and making them do the extra work
which falls 10 the part of the old
hands.
1t being 4 time of war, ana every
body being keyed up to the fighting
pitch when the draft came aboard the
Columbia, made no perceptible diff
ference in the treatment OF the new
crowd received.
Some of them, of course, refused TO
obey the orders Of their equals in rank,
and fought them down in coal bunk
ers with so much willingness and en-
thusiasm that they speedily estab-
lished themselves in good and regular
standing with their shipmatCs, al.
though they did not know enough
about the ship to hurt them any. prac.
tically every one of the draft, except
Jerry Robinson, had had his fight OF
maybe, several fights, before the end
OF month, and had been assigned tc
his special class; but Robinson had moi
fought.
He was a close mouthed, quiet fel
low who had nothing to say out ol
the way to any one, and not much It
say at all, and Mike Brady, one of Tho
most Obstrcperous of the a. B.'s gave
it out one night that he had mad,
Robinson polish his share of the bras,
work that morning, and that there
after he, Brady, was going to take lif,
easy and let his hired man do hi.
work.
That was an invitation to go dow
in an empty coal bunker and fight i
out with fists, for Robinson heard ii
and he knew what it meant; but h,
wouldn't fight.
Il don't want any trouble with you,
he said, as he looked out to sea; and S,
Mike Brady told him that he was
coward, and the rest of the mess Sc
Robinson down as II quitter and avoid
ed and looked down cn him accord
ingly.
Thereafter he was svoidcd and
though he attended TO his duties faith
fully, and improved i his usefulness
so that he was rated an able seaman
at the end of year, he had no friend
aboard.
The Columbia saw no fighting durinj
the war, and when Dewey, at Manila