The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-06-18
JACKIES HAVE GOOD FOOD.
Men of Uncle SANS Navy Are Pro.
Vided with Everything Fit for
Their SuperiOrs.

Their SuperiOrs.
The 100000 pounds Of tobacco which
the navy department bought for the
sailors and marines, like most things
furnished to the navy, is good enough
for anybody. Jack, in fact, is critica'
abou. his tobacco, and has long beer
used to an excellent article. Nearly al
sailormen smoke, and most of then
chew. The plug tobacco served out tC
the men at cost is used for either pur.
pose. Cut into chips of suitable size,
or crumbied between the fingers. il
make a sweet smoke for the pipe
Many officers buy it for such use, says
the New York Times.
Jack does not double on the tobacco
tub as he used to double on the grog
tub in the days when grog was furn.
ished free at the foot of the mast to the
men lined up in order, and each hold
ing out his tin cup. Jack does, how
ever, sometimes save his tobacco and
resell it at a profit, for he buys at the
lowest wholesale rate, and by little
self-denial can easily save a fair pro
portion of his share. He takes a great
satisfaction in the fact that what is
good enough for him is good enough
for his superior in rank. Some officers
suspect that the excellence Of all
articles furnished to the enlisted meT
of the navy has good deal to do with
I their effectiveness as fighting ma.
chimes. Jacks food and drink is just
as good as his tobacco. Nohard liquors
are sold to him, but he has the privilege
of buying a moderate quantity of bot.
tied beer aboard ship. Here again he
cannot double on the tub" but oc-
casionally hard drinker will by dint
of almost superhuman self-denial &C.
cumulate enough beer in the course of
two or three weeks to give him some
thing like a spree, and perhaps get
him a sentence of ten days on bread
and water.
Nothing strikes the stranger aboard
ship more favorably than the abund-
ance and excellence of Jacks food
Early in the morning he has bread and
NpuNN La ltl NblliCS a utbi DItdh'
fast. This meal, like every meal to the
man-o'-war's man, must be tasted by
the officer of the deck before it is given
to the sailor. 1t is a bit Of a ceremony
that tasting of Jacks food by his SUI
perior officer. As the officer PAGES the
deck in the early morning boy from
! the cooks galley solemnly approaches
with a steaming bowl Of whatever is
the breakfast of the day. A portion is
served out in a proper dish. and the
officer, with a judicial air. takes a
mouthful. 1t is often so good that he
makes a pretty good meal as he stands
there on the deck. If the food is in
| any way what it should not be he looks
| into the matter al once. and Jacks
wrong is, impossible, instantly re-
| dressed.
Since the days of the old-fashioned
sailing craft or the slow steamino
craft the food of everybody aboard
the ships of the United States army
has greatly improved. No voyage is
now really long-that is, no ship of the
navy is ever more than three weeks
without touching at some port where
fresh food may be had. Jack gets his
| share of the good things, and if he
wants more he can buy ashore himself
Even the eggs of the navy are no longer
| the dreadful things they once were
when the cleverest shifts of the
ablest cook could not disguise the fact
! that the omelette ought to have been
eaten weeks or perhaps months be-
| fore. Even on the voyage across the
! Pacific the food seldom reaches the
condition to drive away appetite. In
! fact. a man-of-war crossing from the
| Philippines to San Francisco is likely
| to have no worse table, whether in
wardroom or in fOrecastle, than the
winter table of many well-to-do fami
| lies in New York. Fresh food taken
aboard at the beginning of the voyage
will last part way TO Guam, and if the
| ship is not in too much of a hurry to
| touch there more may be had. Agar
| fresh food of great variety can be had
at Honolulu, and thence the run tc
San Francisco is only few DAYS. When
a ship is on pressing errand she may
be too much hurried to stop for fresh
supplies, and in such case everybody
gets pretty tired of salt horse
canned vegetables and ships biscuit
But men and officers never suffer the
discomforts of those who went in the
sailing ships of the old navy from
Cape Town to Montevideo, when the
greenery and charm of "The Mount
seemed to the sea-tired eyes of all on
board beautiful beyond belief.
Where to Apply.
Dear Miss Scrubbins," wrote the
wise mother to her sons teacher, al
YOU want an excuse for Willie's alb