Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-12-15

| (V Admiral Evans (Fighting Bob
W II thank God that he made
three times as much water as land.
Every old seadog will join me in
this. The sea is his home; he loves 1t
as the farmer loves his broad acres.
Apart from it he is restless and dissat-
isfied, but with a voyage ahead of him
he is as happy as clam at high tide
No true sailor would exchange Christ
mas at sea for one on shore. 1t would
be like Thanksgiving dinner without
the turkey.
"Of all the Christmases spent at sea
| the one that rises before me most
wildly is that of 1866, when the fed
eral army and the gunboat feet were
trying to capture Fort Fisher. The
only presents we received, and they
came fast and furious, were solid shot
and shell from the guns of the enemy.
But this didn't destroy our sense of
humor. The boys would write on
each solid shot or shell before placing
it in the gun, presented by and add
the name of the vessel from which it
happened to be fired. Mighty few
hurled at the fort that day lacked this
Christmas greeting. All the gunners
caught the spirit of the grim jest, for
the fighting line is no place for seri-
Gus faces.
Despite the excitement of the
fierce combat we managed to have the
mastheads of all the ships trimmed
with Christmas green, even though
the sailors had to risk their lives in
going ashore to get them, and you
may be assured the sentiment of the
day was not wasted.
Last year Santa Claus followed our
feet of 16 vessels. He anticipated our
12,000-mile voyage and furnished us in
advance with the pick of his best. On
board the supply vessels when we
sailed from Hampton roads were thou
sands Of packages containing every
imaginable Christmas gift, from
whisky flask to a smoking jacket, each
package labeled, Don't open until
Christmas
Along with those gifts he sent
thousands of yards of bunting to dec
crate the mastheads of the battleships
1t would be difficult to imagine a more
beautiful sight than these ships lined
up Christmas morning with the sail
ors breaking out the Christmas trim
mings with as much zest as the small
boy displays when he lights the
oandloc ON bic bric troa
Then comes the opening of the
Christmas packages. This is always a
gala occasion. Not a man on board
would dare ignore the instruction any
more than he would think of disobey.
ing his superior officer. 1t has become
custom through years of faithful OBJ
servance. Always bottle of wine is
broken in christening these tokens
from the loved ones at home.
"If hadn't been a lieutenant myself
I wouldn't dare give away official
secrets.
Last year we practically had two
| Christmases. We received our first
mail at Trinidad, West Indies, some
time Christmas week and delayed
| Christmas mail reached us at Callao,
when the vessels were approaching
| their own country on the western
side.
mo nation provides more plentiful
ly for the Christmas cheer of it's sail
ors than does Uncle Sam. Each of
the battleship crews has a dinner of
roast turkey, plum pudding, pumpkin
pie and all the trimmings which go
with it. The men are served in
messes of 20 at IL a'clock and each
man is allowed one snifter of grog as
an appetizer, in celebration of the oc-
casion.
"The officers dine at six o'clock,
and, as is the custom when spending
the holiday at sea, are guests of the
commanding officer"