The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1901-09-11
SPOILED HIS SERMON
WHY ONE NAVAL OFFICER STOPPED
JAWlNG ABOUT TATTOOlNG.

JAWlNG ABOUT TATTOOlNG.
An Incident Which caused Ills Heat
ed Remarks ON the Subject 10 Lose
Force, Putting the Laugh on Him
at the Same Time rs Well.
"There VAS an officer of the line put
on the retired list the other day" said
an old time messenger nj the navy de-
partment who put In many cruises us
II petty officer In the United States sea
service, who got himself into an odd
pickle one morning 10y taking a shower
bath.
This officer WAS n fine sailorman to
serve under, and the men were mighty
fond of him, But he had one knk
That was his opposition to the practice
OF tattooIng. lie was first lufI' or
executive officer of the ship ut the
time I'm speaking of, and, while he
was particularly easy on his clSv, he
certainly had habit of coming down
ON 'cm like II thousand of brick for the
tattnoing business There were n lot
of men in the crew that did ettoaing.
and the first luff' kept nm eye on them.
He didn't want any of the rev young
chaps In the service 10 gpt themselves
marked up, and when he caught the
lads With new lunches of Ink ON their
persons he Invariably berated them
soundly and sent the tAttooers TO the
mast There WIS no regulation then.
MS there Is now, against tattoolng, and
SO the executive officer couldn't punish
the tattooers, but he always iccturcd
them pretty soundly at that But he
couldn't stamp out the practice. The
young fellows entering the service as
landsmnn weren't a little bit contented
until they'd got themselves marked up
Hike the old Flntfect
This executive officer, however, con
sidcrcd the practice foolish and bar,
barous and idiotic, rs II no doubt is, nj
though I've got the Ink scattered over
good deal of my old frame. rcmem-
Der that while | was attached to the
ship of which this officer was the first
lulf' ! went ashore Mt Nagasaki, ia
pan. one afternoon and came across
Jap tattouer whose work was high
grade. had small vacant space
still unmarked on my left forearm, and,
being n good deal younger then than
am now and II bit under the sake,
doubt not mt that had this Jap tattoo
LIST needle me the American flag and
the Irish emblem INTERVIEWED on that
vacant space. Well. the next morning
| was doing my stunt on deck, with
my sleeves rolled UP and that raised
bit of tnttoong showing raw on my
left arm. The executive officer caught
sight of 1t, and he rounded on me in
stantly.
well, you ought to have 30 days In
some mlhcrs' Jail said he to me. An
old jnck like you getting himself scrap
Cd up like any beach combcr after all
your years in deep water! You ought
To be ashamed of YOURSELF
II felt pretty shcepish, of course, but
| told him that | wouldn't Ia had it
done If II hadn't been for bit too
much rice wine the afternoon before,
hui hn nnly sunrtnd aud walked aft
well, only two mornings after that
this kindly 'lirst luf' showed himself
up and got the terrible laugh from the
whole ships company for'ard The of
ficers had rugged up II shower bath on
the after deck, under which, with only
Il pair of small trunks on, they'd stand
when they got UP on the hot mornings
To get cooled off. The apparatus had
only been TIP fer Il couple of days when
on this morning that I'm speaking of
the executive officer, who was an eX
eeedingly absentmlndcd man, prnnccd
out with his little pair of new trunks
and, turning the water ON. stood under
the shower, gasplng and enjoying him
self. 1t was about nm hour after all
hands In the morning. and all the men
We're on deck. Wen, when they saw
the first lulf stripped that way there
went up "A shout from that ships com
pany thnt sounded HE n homcward
bound rom
For the executive officer was Just
one macs of fine tattoolng from his
neck to his middle. 1t was MI Jnpa-
nesc work dragons, eagles. snakes,
dainty garden scenes and all that sort
Of stun In all of the Japanese tattoo
er's colors. His arms had all kinds of
addcrs and pythons and boa constrlc-
tors collcd around them, and, all in all,
| don't believe any of us In the crew
had ever seen man, for'ard or aft 50
completely tattooed up as that first
lulf' Of ours was
when he heard the tremendous
laugh, the executive officer looked up In
surprise, and when he saw the whole
ships company doing nothing but stare
nj him with grins he turned rs red MS
II beet, looked down at himself and
hustled for his room at the rallop. lie
looked pretty shccplsh and red when
hc emerged about half an hour later IN
uniform, but he tool, it all good natur-
eddy, aud that afternoon he said 10 me
on the quiet:
You lads forard have got It on me
sure enough, but | had those lmbeclc
things needed on me when | was a
pinhead Of n cadet, thinking 1t was fine.
Anyhow. It's not n case Of doing as
do, but Of doing as | say
II could only grin In reply, ana he
snortcd aud then grinned aud went aft.
From then on until the wind up Of
the cruise he never said another word
against tattoolng. Washington Star
The Independence of Riches.
My daughter" said The lady with
the chin tlnt talupd oxpt. iIspif "iq