New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-31

about the hght.'
"And. of course. the Admiralty gave
you all lots Of leave?"
"Us? Yes heaps. We had nothing
10 do except clean down and oil up and
be ready to go to sea again IN a re"
hours"
That little fact was brought out AZ
the end OF almost every destroyers re
port: Having returned 20 base at such
and such a time, ! took In oil, etc, ana
reported ready FOR sea Mt -- o'clock.
When YOU think OF the amount OF
work a ship needs, even after peace
mannuvres, you can realize what had
20 be done on the heels OF an action
and "a there is nothing like housework
for the troubled soul OF woman. 80
general cleaning is good for the sailors
Work Good for Soul
I had this from petty officer who
had also passed through deep waters;
III you've seen your best friend go
from alongside you, and your own OH
Ger and your own boats crew with him,
and things Of that kind mans best
comfort Is the small. vsriegated Jobs
which he ia damned for continuous"
Presently my friend Of the destroyer
went back 10 his stark, desolate life.
where feelings do not count And the
fact OF his being cold, wet, seasick.
slccpless or dog tired had nothing
whatever on his business, which was 20
turn out at any hour, IN any weather,
and do or endure decently, according
90 the ritual.
What hat hour and that weather
demanded IL is hard TO reach the ker
mel Of Navy minds are unreadable.
The seas and the mechanisms they
work on and through have given them
tho simplicity OF the elements and the
machines. The habit Of dealing with
swift accident, life Of tho closest and
strictest association with their own
caste, rs well as contact with all kinds
Of men all the earth over. have added
immense cunning to those qualities.
And that they arc from early youth
cut out OF all feelings that may come
between them and their ends makes
them more incomprehcnsible than the
Josuits, even TO their own people.
No Boosting over Deeds
What. then, must they be TO the
oncmy7
Here is n service which prowls forth
and achieves at the lowest something
of victory-how farreaching a one
only the wars end will reveal. IL re-
turns in gloomy silence. broken only
by the occasional boot Of longshore
loafer, after issuing a bulletin which,
though it may onlighten the profess
sional mind, does not exhilarate the
layman.
In the mean time the enemy triumphs
wirelessly far and wide. A few rigid
and perfunctory seeming contradictions
arc put forward against his resounding
claims, naval expert or two is heard
talking of" The rest is silence.
Anon the enemy, after prodigious
amount of explanation. which not even
neutrals seem 70 take any interest IN,
revses his claims and very modestly
enlarges his losses. Still no sign.
After some weeks there appears a
document giving our version OF the
affair, which is as colorless. detached
and scrupulously impartial az the ind
ings of a prize court. 10 opines that
the list OF enemy losses which il sub
mits gives the minimum IN regard 20
numbers. though IL IS possibly not
entirely accurate in regard 10 the par
ticular class Of vessel, especially those
that were sunk during night attacks"
Here the matter rests and remains.
lust like our blockade There is an
insolence about il all that makes one
gasp; yet that insolence springs, as
naturally and unconsciously as an oath,
out of the same spirit that caused the
destroyer TO pick up the dog. The re-
ports themselves and tenfold more sto-
ries not in reports are charged with u,
but no words by any outsider can re-
produce just that professional tone and
touch
a man writing home after the fight
points out that one great consolation
for not having cleaned up the enemy
altogether was that anyhow, those
east coast dcvils"-a fellow squadron,
il you please, which up till Jutland had
had most of the fighting were not
there. They missed that show. We
were as pleased as girl who had
been 70 a dance that her sister had
missed"
This was one of the figures in that
dance:
"A little British destroyer. her mid