The Holt County sentinel., 1907-07-26
The Travellers Have Returned.

Aast week spoke OF our Trip TO James
town and vicinity and some impressions
by the way. Such a narrative is OF
necessity incomplete and partial. for one
at times will think of some points which
may not be thought of at all few min.
utes later when he needs them for the
purposes of story.
| have sometimes written ghost stories,
but In this report am safe IN saying that
there were no ghosts about at any time,
and all my words are spoken in deepest
earnestness and sometimes with almost
sanctimonious fervor. So you may be
sure that even my fish stories" are true.
On Chesapeake bay we saw schools of
fish, the first | ever saw. At first | did
not know what they were, that is, the
schools 1t seemed as if the water was
spotted and the spots changing in form
and hue like shadows and then appear
ing IN other places in few moments
We soon found out the cause. Thou
sands of fish would come to the surface
and flop over the water and seem to be
playing "hide and go SEEK with the
other fish and keep the water so dis
turbed, that you would think the water
boiling up and then cooling down again.
Sometimes large fish or porpolse would
Jump too high and get clear out of
the water and then like Pat tumble
down again, mot because he had to- but
because he wanted to take a dive in the
water" | tried to turn my borrowed
field glasses on them, but they did not
seem to be sea glasses, and before l
could take aim the sight was spoiled by
my losing sight Of the ocean athletes. l
looked in vain for sharks and whales
and there was not a sea lion to be seen.
The fact is did not expect to see them,
and as promised to tell true fish stories,
if such thing be possible. l must con.
fess l saw neither shark, nor whale nor
any such beast. But 1 did see the
schools and all real and possible things
| have reported.
When at Old Point Comfort, we took
notion to see a battleship and so We
got a launch and were taken about a
mile out to sea to where the Ohio was
anchored. A convenient ladder made
our way onto the ship easy and all the
boys aboard were very polite and atten-
tive to visitors. One ensign dressed in
white took Us all over the ship and ex-
planned everything to US. The Ohio is
first class battleship,t that is it has tur-
rets above the decks for very large guns,
in this case two 12-inch guns at each end,
besides large compliment of smaller
guns. You can tell a battle-ship in
picture, from a cruiser, by the battle
ship having high massive structure, con-
sisting of the turrets and heavy armor
in the middle of the ship, while it is
built lower at the ends. The cruiser is
about the same all along the upper line
OF the vessel, and never has such large
guns nor such heavy armor as the
battleship.
One OF the chief benefits of trip to
the exposition is the chance it gives for
seeing what is not at the exposition. but
close by. Sc we visited Old Point CON-
fort, Newport News, Hampton, The Old
Soldiers Home, Ocean View, Fortress
Monroe and several other points of in.
terest. When at Fortress Monroe We
saw the French cruiser "Kleber" pay
ing its respects to the fort and the q
gun salute fired by the fort in honor of
the vessel as it took its departure. The
French vessels are not SO effective as the |
American or English. Our ships have |
ust as many men as are needed and ev
cry man is expected to fill his place.
This seems to be the theory of most the
modern navies, but the French have
about twice as many men as are needed,
on the theory that in case Of loss enough |
will be left to man the ship. Thus their
ships are over-crowded and overloaded
with supplies for these extra men. 1t
does not pay farmer to keep lot of
idle horses to supply the place Of those
which he thinks might some day die or
be stolen, and think the same principal
would apply to the war vessels.
After our return to Washington, we
began to do up the old town in good
shape. We bravely climbed up the
dome and counted the steps part of the
time and then gave it up. was braver
than the rest of our crowd, if must say
it myself, and | guess must, as no one
else has said it, SO climbed up near the
.op Of the thing, and looked out from