Connecticut western news., 1916-09-07
PLENTY OF WORK
 FOR SEA ROCKIES
So Busy That They Do Not Have Time to Write Letters.
ROUTINE OF DAILY LIFE.

Arise at a. m. and Scrub the Decks Before Breakfast-Firing Guns and Drilling Show Need of Proper Train ing, Such as They Are Getting at Present.
 The first of the John Paul Jones cruises for civilians on the reserve ships of the Atlantic fleet has seen adven- ture subsiding into work. At least it's that way on the Virginia, which car ried 300 odd recruits from Boston.
 Efficiency demands that under war conditions the men fire three shots a minute. It takes ten to man twelve inch gun, from the shell men down in the hold, four decks below the tur- ret, to the pointer above. It took the civilian crew just five minutes from "hoist away" to fire" Yet trained crew goes through it all In twenty seconds, shell after shell, to the end. It was a better lesson than any amount of preparedness talks in the necessity of trained men. It is a scientific job, this one of being a modern fighter, re- quiring the proper coordination of brain and hand and eye and nerve. That is what the training cruise is for to get men ready so that precious months need not be spent in teaching men to shoot.
 The Boat Drill.
 For boat drill the men are divided into regular full crews. They man the davits and lower away and man the oars and row away. Among the rockies are half of Harvard's first crew men: Herrick, Harwood, White and Allen. They are in the same boat, and there are eight other men in the boat with them. The oafs are narrow, and the seats don't slide. It is half of the brawn that rowed Yale off the wa ter last June.
 "But somehow" as one man sadly remarked, "it doesn't seem the same" But the observers can see the evi- dence of the trained oar, struggling for s.foIm," in the numbering clumsiness of the ships boats.
 R Then there are the old rockies, meE who rowed on the long sweeps when the Virginia was a youngster. They are accommodating a good bit of extra weight amidships and show a roll as they walk. But they are game and pull at the oars as they did on the winning varsity in '09 or so. They c6Re ii ptfing and played out after a practice row, but there is the light of excitement in their eyes, which comes from living over again we'll re- natmbered times,
 They are men-of-wars men now, ey- cry one of these 300 recruits. They rise at to the bo'sn's pipe, tumblir% out of their hammocks six feet to the floor They lash their hammocks in the required nautical way with the re- quired number of hitches. Then they foli up their broad legged sailor pants to the knees and swab down the decks with cold sea water. They polish brass and wash paint, as though their very existence depended on the job.
 Millionaire Washing Brass.
 It might be funny to see a man whose fortune runs to millions shining brass in a way that would not earn him $2 day. Yet you know that brass polishing is not his goal. That is incl dental to the larger work of being pre- pared to help on a big man-of-war iu time of danger.
 After cleaning comes breakfast and after breakfast assembly, with setting up exercises. From that to gun prac- tice they go immediately, then to boat drill, to classes of special instruction to torpedo defense stations, taking barely time for a bite of dinner in between. They are trying to teach the recruits the utmost it is possible to learn in the time of the cruise, and every minute is precious.
 "I don't even get time to write a let ter says one dapper sailor plaintiveiy ''I have written Dear Ethel five times and that is as far as I get"
 From turn to" at of the gray morning to taps" at of the weary night the men work and learn They are displaying a remarkable quickness for the mechanism of gun and ships The days are full of work, but they are also full of accomplishment.
 ''I don't know what to do with mA men," said the commanding officer oi
  tain of the Virginia.
 Keep 'em at work" Captain Jack son advised him.
 Not that life is all work for the rock Ses. Morning and evening a boom i rigged from the side of the ship slop ing down to the water, and down 1 the men go to swim. Probably half O them go in the water. The other hal lean over the sides and cheer. Th water is cold and very salty. If swimmer stays too close to the sides O the ship a little wave will come anC slap him against the hard armor plate Therefore most of the men swim. out followed by lifebOat.
 Who said men do not live well in th navy? Asparagus on toast, steaks rOasts. grapes, oranges, cantaloupes- these are items chosen at random i from the menu of the last three days At every meal enough is thrown ava