St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-10-31
IAcK1Es, N1GHr-DREss.

| ACklES' NlGHT-DKESSs
I Tarn Into Theft Hamnocks I'm Cow
| ernment-straisht Navy Blue
| Underwear. \
Naval officers and navy men in gen.
sral are having a lot Of fun over that
:, news" paragraph which was sent all
over the country short time ago to the
effect that the navy department has it
in contemplation to substitute pajamas
for nightshirts" for the use OF the ems
listed men in the United States navy
reports the Washington Star.
The nub of their fun is the night
| shirt end of the story. Except for
joke, no enlisted man in the navy ever
did, and it is virtually 10O-to-1 propo-
sition that no enlisted man in the navy
ever will, wear such highly domestic
and home-like garment as a nightshirt.
The bluejackets sleep in their UNDER
clothing. The fiatfoot in our navy VINO
| would break q nightshirt out OF his
ditty-bag or locker and put it on before
sliding into his hammock would be-
come the laughing stock of his whole
ships company. and, in the due course
| OF time, when word of the thing got
around among the fleets. of the whole
navy. from Tangiers to Tahiti.
The nightshirt, in the first place, isn't
garment that is adapted to the pur-
poses of men who have to hop into and
out OF the swinging sleeping bags that
RI n0 cd hnv II t.. IL -
job to grab ahold of pair of hammock
hooks and pull yourself about five feet
from the deck of q ship into one of thesa
sWayfng and closely hung hammocks.
and many's the lubber that has had to
stand for hard jolts and black and blue
spots for weeks after the beginning OF
his first cruise aboar man-o'-war ow-
lag to the difficulties in the way Of
turning in" neatly and cleyerly for
the novice.
And climbing into q ships hammock
is stunt thatwould be enormously COM
plicated, II not virtually impossible,
even for the old-tfme, deep-water,
heavy-weather man. with the nightshirt
to hamper the free and unconfined
AOvSAAASASS Va Inc 4C60s
In the second place, the bluejackets
have got to be ready, when they turn
into their hammocks, to stand for all
sorts OF ships calls and alarms during
their sleeping hOurs--fire quarters. all
hands to quarters, all hands abandon
ship, arm and away, repel boarders,
clear ship for action. and score Of
other games that are being constantly
sprung upon them. day and night, by
exceedingly conscientious executive Of
ficers, for drill purposes. And what an
idiotically diverting spectacle ships
company. say Of 300 or more flatfeet,
would make OF it If, the call to fire quar-
ters suddenly sounding int the middle Of
the night. they hoped out Of their ham,
mocks' and then had to proceed to shed
their nfghtshirts before jumping into
their uniforms in order to report in
proper uniform rig at their fire stations!
Then, again, 1t would be something
highly hilarious to see an old shell-back
Of 80 years service, q man who had been
UP and down in the world in men-o'-war
ever since the days of his apprentice
ship. crawling out Of his hammock In a
nightshirt when poked awake and noti-
fed that it was time for him to prepare
to stand watch. allow or aloft! The very
suggestion of such thing would make
sailorman attached to Uncle Sans line
of packets shake to the center of his
midriff with laughter.
Nor is there the slightest probability
that the bluejackets of the United
States navy will ever wear pajamas,
either. Even II the pajamas are dished i
out to the fatfeet by the paymaster's
jack-o'-the-dust, that won't make the
sailors wear the things. The pajamas
would have to be doffed by all hands at
sudden call to quarters in the middle
Of the night. or when the regular
watches were turned out of the swing
Ing bags. and when man-o'-war's man
gets piped out OF his hammock he hasn't
got any time to slide out of cute little
suit Of pajamas. roll them up and stow
them in ditty bag or locker BY the time
he got through with such an operation.
as that he would unquestionably be
yanked to the mast by the master-at-
al uo 0lAA AOl-ANNOtCu AAIO lu6 SuID OIlH
or punished, at any rate, with extra duty,
for dilatoriness.
The jackies turn into their hammocks
In their government-straight navy blue
underwear, and when they're proddsd
out of their hammocks, on sudden ships
calls or on sudden calls to watch, all
they've got to do Is to slip on their bell
bottoms and their shoes-an operation
requiring about 40 secondhand there
they are! Nightshirts or pajamas for
the sinewy, slam-bang. saltwater ran
gers of Uncle Samuel's feet of frigates?
Ask them!
London SparrOws.
One hardly looks for natural history
lessons in the streets of London. but
the observer need never despair Of
lighting upon something of interest.
even though the subject be SO common
a being as the London sparrow. The
other day one of these pert little birds
A,1%f vp{v