Omaha daily bee., 1902-10-05
oultivates Grace, Of Society When Ashore
and Belongs to Y. n. O. A. Branches.
BLUE RIBBON" MEN ON NEARLY ALL SHIPS
Sailors save Money, Laugh az Board
ing House Keepers and Pick
Out Their ships az
Their Ease.
Copyright. 1902. by Irving Kins.)

labors. Old ideas and old superstitions
die hard, and none seems more gifted with
a baleful and persistent life than the
idea OF Jack ashore" II is
embalmed in song and story. From the
days OF Dibdin to the days OF Strike up
the band, here comes a sailor" Jack ashore
is pictured as a reckless, irresponsible In
dividual. whose first act on striking the
beach Is to get drunk, get into a fight and
seek lewd company. the devil and all his
works. Whatever Jack ashore may have
been in the past. today he fulHlls none Of
the requirements OF the popular picture
OF him. II he did. these 10000 merchant
sailors a month would make New York howl
keep II bowling. AS II Ia. their pres
ence In port IL unnoticed except by those
whose business brings them into contact
with the invading army OF the sea.
II II probably because Kipiing's
'Seven men from all the world back to port
again,
raising CAIN
appeal more to the Imagination than Seven
men from all the world looking over the
recent periodicals in a seaman reading
room, that the world refuses to give up It's
old idea OF Jack ashore.
The old time sailor who shivered his
timbers. damned his eyes and dashed his
tarry toplights is almost as extinct as the
with the Black Ball Line to
dance on Fiddler's Green with Liverpool
Jack" and Hanging Johnny" And the
sailor who considers 1t his frBt duty on
ashore to get drunk and paint the
town" Is fast following him into the limbo
Of things which were picturesque but un-
civilized, like the feudal system and the
wampum age.
He hasn't quite gone yet, though. The
improvident registering californian
Is still with us occasionally, and can be
found by looking for him, sometimes with
out. II would be too much to say that the
Of the worlds seafaring popula-
ton as a whole has changed, but 1t Is an
indisputable fact that 1t is rapidly changing.
sailors as Skilled workers.
Today the sailor is simply a skilled work
man employed on a vessel instead Of ashore.
When he is ashore he is taking his pleasure
and the arrests among the 20, 1000 seamen
who monthly come ashore in the port NJ
New York are less in proportion than
among any other class Of workmen gathered
in considerable numbers for an outing.
years ago a sailor who was a total
a bstainer was as hard to find as roses in
December, ice in June" but today he Is not
at all uncommon. Scarcely a ship comes
into port but has a few blue ribbon" men
on board OF 1t. AS a rule, Jack ashore still
likes his beer, but he takes it in modera-
ton. II would be absurd to allege that
Jack has turned angel all at once. He still
is very human and liable to fall by the way
side. And when he does fall he makes so
much row about 1t, after the bad old model,
that he helps to keep alive the traditions
which would make all sailors even as he.
Ben Bolt of the salt sea wave still has
about which di1erentiates him
from a landsman, and he will have till
there shall be no more sea- and the last
sailor sails no more. but morally he has be-
come Just about what most other men are
ahoat and ashore; II anything. a little above
the average.
Sailors Clubs AshOre
Not many years ago there used to be a
score Of places along the water front
patronized almost exclusively by sailors.
they caroused and danced with their
painted partners, reckless, abandoned, a
prey to land-sharks, careless OF God and
man. Now there is not a real old-time
place OF the sort in the city. On West
street, Charlton street and Pike street there
II IItt ICduluB AOOhhn "a ~ oNAA
ors, and these rooms are nlled all the time,
every day, by Jack ashore. In these places
Jacky reads the papers and magazines.
checkers or other games and meets
and talks with men Of his calling from all
over the world. These are the sailors
when ashore, and no other club in
the world can show such a cosmopolitan
gathering as one of these sailors reading
rooms. For when the sailors OF New York's
come all the Seven Seas"-the
swede, Finn, Dane and Norwegtans, all diff
rering from each other In politics (for they !
talk international politics.. but all agree in
hatred OF the Russian-men OF swarthy
face and bearded lip from Genoa or Oporto;
perhaps a swart West Indian or a 1.-the and
wiry Malay or KanRka; sailors from Spain
or Buenos Ayres or a man from Rio longing
for a sight OF the sugar loaf and to see
again the palm trees touch the skies; all
these and more, too, make VI the $1,000
who rest from the sea every month
in the greatest port in the new world.
There is, Of course, a large number Of
irish, English and Scotch; nor is the Yankee
as extinct as is commonly supposed.
The swell Yankee Sailor.
One type of your Yankee sailor comes
IN, say from Maine, being engaged In "the
heavenly trade Of cOasting." The captain
Is a person Of the FIRST Importance in his
OWN town and his crew is largely made up
Of his sons and ~nephews, or the sons OF his
neighbors. When this sort OF a sailor
comes ashore he seldom ~frequents the places
where other sailors congregate. THE boys
put on their store clothes'-some OF them
have patent leather shoes which they bought
The last time they was down to Bawston'-
and pay a visit to some theater, where, II
they keep their huge rough hands out Of
sight, they may be mistaken for golf play
ers or yachtsmen returned from a cruise,
except that their clothes are not exactly Of
the latest cut and are badly in need OF
There are many other American
too. not in the heavenly trade OF
among the monthly twenty thou
sand, and these, like their brothers, may
be seen In force in the reading rooms.
A good sample sailors reading room is
the one at 39s West street. This place,
opens early and closes late, seldom
has less than 100 sailors Of all nationallties
In Il, and the manager says. in talking with
! man, II is no uncommon thing to ind that
he is a member Of the Young Mems Chris
tian association. Fancy that. ye whose
Jack ashore" lie Of the old-time variety.
Not all sailors ashore patroniEe the read