The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-11-12
BLUE JACKETS
PRODUCE MUSIC
The Sailors Piano" is the
favorite Apparatus
in Use.

Speaking of Father Chidwick's con-
certs aboard the cruiser New York"
a naval man yesterday, reminds
me Of the fact that very few people
know what hidden talent there is in the
Of musicians on board of our naval
vessels. Many people imagine that the
only time a sailor can dig up any music
is when he is about half tanked' in a
small disreputable saloon and is per-
mitted to play a broken down, Wheel
lors. That's not so.
Now take the New York for in
stance. In addition to. the regular en-
listed men aboard who are there as
band players there can be found men
who can play almost n musical ap-
~paratus ever heard of. Yes, we have
even a man who can play one Of our
| .hookalales' as you call it. But 1eav-
ing talent aside for a ome h best
known musical instrument aboard is the
| Jack tar piano. What's that? Why
I IL - Vic Va GDS = ~
Germs known of unless it happened to
have peer made in some Yankee town
where dyes are plentiful. / refer to
the accordion. Almost every man in a
warship can play IN one of these in
struments and 1 can assure you that
Home, Sweet Home and We Don't
Go Home Until Morning sounds just
as good On that as it would sound to
many people if played on a church or
gan. Will it bring tears if played
right? Well, now you think a minute
and her tell me if you think hat we
have men in the navy of Uncle Sam
nowadays for the purpose of crying.
Cut that idea out of your box.
but as to singers. That is where the
boy Of the sea shines. He car sing
anything n everything in any old
kind of a tune that suits those who are
listening to it. He don't sing the old
songs of 'Heigh, Ho' and Buckets of
Blood but has now adopted the popular
airs of the day, and the poor ones are
dropped just as quickly in the navy as
boys are singers they are not whistlers
for whistling is strictly tabooed on a
man-of-war with the exception of the
bosuns. They whistle-that's what they
are paid for.
Now that I've got started / might as
well tell o a thing or two about blu
Jackets. They are not the ignorant lot
of grog drinkers that some people
ashore think them. They, the majority
of them, are linguists, can speak in E
rough two or three languages
As far as education goes they are wa.
ahead of lots of fellows Who go out int
the world with high school or colleg,
educations for in the matter of geo
graphy alone they are way on top
They know almost every place unde
the sun, how large it is, what its re
sources are, and its political impor
lance in the makeup of the world al
though they of course must be forgiv
en- if they magnify the Importance o
their W country by about FIVE and
half million times.
But We were talking about music
There IS just one thing more 1 wish t
state. l have known many fellows I
get such powerful exercise for the lung
while at sea n to actually train thei
own voices in such a way that whe,
they stepped ashore with discharge il
" pocket they readily obtained valuabl
positions in the stage world.
What am 1 turning around an
\ standing so straight for? Well, tn
. bugle sounded the salute to the colors
I'm facing them. See, all the men o
u the New York are doing the sam,
Good practice. isn't it? Well, SO long.