Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-05-06

to George Bancroft, who was then
Secretary of the Navy. His memor.
ial is Bancroft Hall" one of the
handsomest of the many buildings
Most of the structures are built OF
brick or gray stone material.
Carvel Hall Is the big hotel OF
Annapolis. 1t was here that Winston
Churchill found Richard Carvel,
and wound him into fiction and fame;
and it was here that we discovered
the distinctions between gold braid
ed uniforms AMI tailored civilians. In
the spacious corridors and on the
vereanda the young officers from
the Academy are ever found in large
numbers, buzzing the pretty maidens
whose mammas bring them here to
Carvel Hall is the buzziest buzzing
place / ever found. The sawmills we
had out in northern Wisconsin new
ere buZzed like the buzzing court
ship of Annapolis. Bless the young
people-how we wished them happi-
ness.
Our little party gathered hungri-
ly at the dining room door, and Lord
Carvels butler, or some other Mary
lander's black-hued master of cere-
monies, politely ushered us into the
rear dining room; while | was vain
ly protesting and expostulating that
we wanted to sit at the windows
next to the street in order that we
might look across upon the Academy
and the PICTURESQUE surroundings.
But protests were all in vain, and
when l appealed to Sir James, the
waiter at our table, he made it quite
ladies were privileged to sit near
those sacred windows. Therefore
humbly and meekly we bowed to the
inevitable, swearing under our breath
that we would write a bitter line to
confess our humiliation.
However, we forgot it all during
the splendid afternoon that followed
when we sailed as guests with these
same officers in the flotilla of boats
that went up the river to see the
contest between the boat crews of
Harvard and the Navy. To show
that the officers themselves are more
polite than the hotel keepers, we
have but to recall that the command
er of the craft that carried us
brought out his own heavy overcoat, |
in order that one of the ladies of
our party should be better protect |
ed from the cold breezes We swung
into the spirit OF the affair with these
fine gentlemen, and that afternoon
was truly wonderful. Imagine if you
can, grim, slate-colored torpedo
boats carrying gala excursion party
to witness boat races. Somehow,
had never supposed before that there
was any fun on this kind of craft; /
but here we were steaming up the
Severn River with crowd who knew
only gaiety and laughter, abroad
craft that had driven many Spanish
speaking gatherings to their knees.
Flags were flying everywhere. Hun
dreds of midshipmen and officers in
their uniforms were cheering the Ma
Wy crew, and the finest torpedo boat
destroyer of the lot carried the Wis
ltors from Cambridge. There were
two eight oar crews from Annapolis;
and as the fragile shells sped up
the river in two races, the whistles
from dozen boats shrieked,
and cheering from hundreds of
rhroats filled the air AS our eager
eyes watched the spectacle, our lit
lie party of civilians felt glad that
We were part of great country
which was able to send these fine II
young men to sea to protect us
against foreign foes.