St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1907-03-30
Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowies.)

Mrs Charles D. Sigsbee, wife of Ad-
nliral Sigsbee of the United States navy,
Is the daughter of the late Gen. Lock-
wood. She has been much at sea and
her kindly interest in the sailors has
given her close insight into their lives,
as the following article discloses.)
Comparing the modern sailor with
those who enlisted on board our men
of-war SO or so years ago we see that
Jack nowadays fares far better than
in those good old times
In the early days of the nineteenth
century and until about 1916 fogging
was administered for even minor Of
lenses. The cat" a scourge with
nine tails, used on the bare back, was
one of the instruments of torture. All
the ships company were required to
witness this degradation of their COM
rades. The colt" or ropes end, was
frequently kept coiled in the caps of
the boatswain's mates ready to be
used at moments notice on the luck
less offender.
Now what change! Confinement
in the brig" on bread and water for a
stated time or deprivation of liberty
on shore is. the punishment for small
offenses, while for the greater sum-
mary or general court-martial is held
according to the gravity of the wrong
doing.
In former times the ships library
consisted Of few old-fashioned books,
too dry mostly for Jacks taste-es-
says, lectures, sermons, with sprink-
ling of poems and lives of notable peo-
pie These were kept in cask or
barrel commonly, which was capsized
whenever a volume was to be selected.
Now Jack has good library, COM
prising tales of travel and adventure,
the newest novels, as well as the
standard works, histories, poems-in
fact, the kind Of books that he would
care to read.
On the batt1eships in summer the
men are called at four o'clock or 4:30,
according to the executive officers or,
| der book. First the buglers sound
the reveille. The boatswain's mates
| pipe in unison a shrill call and then
roar:
"A-a-a-ll hands! Up! All ham.
mocks! Turn out! Lash and carry!
| Shake a leg! Bear hand!"
This in stentorian tones The
sleepy occupants of the hammocks
turn out rubbing their eyes and
stretching themselves. The sluggards
receive a push underneath the ham.
| mock from the master-at-arms, caus.
ing the sleepiest to turn out quickly
Half-clothed already-not sleeping in
pajamas-their remaining garments
which are tucked away in their ham.
mocks, are soon put on.
They proceed to lash their ham
mocks, rolling them in cylindrical
bundle secured with seven round taut
turns of manila lashing and then neat
Iy slowing them away in the netting
on deck.
The mess cooks then appear, bring.
| ing tin buckets two feet high filled
with hot, strong coffee, sweetened and
| diluted with milk. Each man drinks
his bowl of coffee, then comforts him.
self with pipe or with cigarettes
srom his "ditty box" regret to say
that the cigarette habIt has invaded
| the ranks of our fine, stalwart body OF
bluejackets. Jack with pipe sounds
| historic and as he should be, but with
a cigarette he is inconsistent. The
ditty box is about foot across and
in this Jack keeps safely locked his
private letters, photographs, writing
materials, perhaps cake Of soap and
other treasures. For half an hour the
sailor may sip his coffee, smoke, write
a letter or do as he pleases.
The bell strikes the half-hour. The
boatswains mates pipe and then sing
out Turn to-" the pipe or whistle
blast coming first and the. order fol
lowing. This means that the mer
must tumble ont on deck and in obedi
enee to the orders as given mus
wash clothes" scrub down the decks
With sand wipe OF paintwork." o.