The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-02


side a file of marines stood at present
arms Beside him was his Executive
officer. Presently the culprit arrived,
shutting in bare feet along the fresh,
bright deck which had been holystoned
four hours previously by his more
amenable mates.
Said the Captain: You are report
ed for INSTRUMENTATION. What have
you to say for yourself?"
81 didn't enlist to get up before day
light, an go on my hans an knees,
an scrub -
You are here to follow the routine
of the ship and obey the orders OF
your superior officer. If release you
will you obey his orders?"
mot If he -
mo IFS Will you opey?"
mo. / -
1.-THE brig, five days solitary con-
fnement, bread and water. Next
In the brig he found about a dozen
of his mates-loafng. This life pleased
him, when he first saw it. The one
objection was that most of them had
the run of a casemate, their only
restraint being a marine guard posted
outside fiimsy rope. You don't have
10 put very strong walls or bars on
jail which is located in a battleship,
itself a mild form Of imprisonment.
But this seaman, sentenced to solitary
confinement, found himself cut off
from his milder comrades and locked
in a small, barren. utterly clean cell.
from which he could look forth and
see the lazy life about him.
For the first day or so this was
not bad business. There might have
been a little more ventilation. AS the
ship happened then to be in the tropics,
and as the brig is not far from the
boilers, you or I, perhaps, would have
found the climate, if not the society,
somewhat monotonous. But that was
not what got on this boys nerves, or,
rather. on his stomach.
EVERYBODY FED WELL BUT THE
PRISONER.
An army marches on its belly, as a
great soldier once observed, and those
wise men who have, from time to time,
ordained the methods of life which
shall prevail in the United States navy,
apparently do not think that military
human nature is much different,
whether it be on land or on sea. The
primal law of their unwritten organi-
cation is this: Feed Jack well. often
and literally. Consequently, we have
the best-fed navy in the world. where
in lies fruit for discussion among mill
tary critics. I have heard foreign
military students condemn us for this
Tiberality with the men; too much good
food spoils the enlisted man, they say.
But that is not our way; our blue
jackets get the best there is and plenty
of II.
So, as that boy fingered there in
the brig he could not help letting the
juices of his mouth wander, if the
fumes of his gastronomic Imagination
did not, toward the mess-table which
was set three times a day within fifty
feet of his slow, cabined confinement.
There must be some subtle prudence,
not apparent on the Surface, in set
ting the mems mess-table within smell
ing distance of the bread-and-water
refugees. He only woke at mealtime.
and then he could dimly see his mates
heartily eating:
For breakfast: Baked ham HASH
tomato catsup. hot cakes and syrup
bread, butter and coffee.
For dinner: Boiled eorned beef and
cabbage, boiled potatoes, bread, butter
and coffee.
brown gravy, boiled potatoes, bread,
butter and coffee.
The next day his nostrils shifted:
For breakfast: Baked pork and
beans. tomato catsup. cocoa, bread and
butter
For dinner: Chicken fricassee,
mashed potatoes, green peas. bread,
butter and coffee.
For supper: Salmon salad, corn fritz
tiers and syrup, bread. butter and tea.
The fourth day was even harder. for
they had:
For breakfast: Scrambled eggs.
creamed potatoes. bread. butter and
coffee
For dinner: Pea soup. boiled ham.
boiled potatoes. breaI. 5lIt-sr and cot
fee.
For supper: Hamburg steak, onion
gravy. boiled potatoes, hot biscuit, but
ter and tea.
And then, the fifth day seemed a
really well-developed purgatory, for it
was Saturday, and the pungency of
those victuals smote him more than
hip and thigh; they smote him up
ward from that locality and inward,
and he lay there, scarcely tasting his
old bread and tepid water. while he
thought of the mess-ta.ble where they
were serving:
For breakfast: Fresh beef stew.
bread, butter and coffee.
For dinner; Vegetable soup. pot
roast of beef. gravy. boiled potatoes,
bread, butter and coffee.
For supper; Fresh beef croquettes,
gravy, boiled potatoes. chocolate pud-
ding, bread, butter and tea.
The following morning. before he sat
down to cornmeal mush and milk fried
eggs and bacon, bread. butter and cof-
fee. he had very conscientiously scrub
bed large portion of the fo'castle.
But the mood did not last. Good
food became so easily a part of his
curriculum that he forgot it's bless
ings. One does not always remember
how vital the sunshine is. if he lives
in California. And the navy life got
on the boys nerves. He was swung
up in a hammock under a steel rafter
at night, and by day. unless he sneak
ed out of sight behind a turret, there