The Washington times., 1917-05-26
By ERNEST POOLE.
Copyright. 1917. by The Washington Times)

chasm three decks deep to the pow
der magazine below.
Two little lights Of red and green
winked out at us, and the officer or
dered his crews to stand by. There
was a breathless silence. with every
blueJacket tense in his place; for the
two crews were racing each other in
! true Yankee fashion, each trying to
, break the record for time. These big
guns are not fired except at long in
tervals. but each day they have load
ing drills. Load" The great breech-
ing plug swung out, the huge brass
car rushed up out OF its pit and
dumped a shell on the sluice with
crash. A giant rammer of steel drove
1t home, the car vomited three i'm
mense powder bags, they too were
driven into the gun. and the big
breech closed with a deafening jar.
They were ready to fire. Not so
bad" came the officers voice. -Four
teen and three-fifths seconds" The
same process was repeated until all
the faces glistened with sweat In
actual firing. l learned, there Is soon
the odor of ether here, the ether from
the powder.
Have Own Cigarette Ideas.
There was to be actual firing later
on with the 6-inch guns. And 1
went out in one of the boats to the
target anchored a mile away. This
was a raft some fifty feet long by
three feet in width. with line of
bare masts on which the bluejackets
began hoisting canvas targets like
sails. Some forty lads stood bare
| footed there. and the waves dashed
over and drenched their legs as they
heaved at the ropes. and the older
! ones ordered the youngsters about. In
an hour they were back in the boats,
and we were speeding home to lunch.
Soon they were crowding about me.
l asked them what they wanted from
home, and their main desire was for
cigarettes I told them some one in
Congress was thinking of introducing
bill abolishing cigarettes in the
navy. and by this news l raised
storm of Indignation that nearly cap
! sized US.
You tell that Teller to go on
homer one tough red-headed young
ster cried: war amt any place for
such a guy!'
Tell the people when you write"
one OF the other rockies urged. "to
send along some fruit cake-choco-
, late cake especially. Don't let 'em
"dHleu. DE sure u H2NN
'em send it by parcel post. Express
won't do. And address II to the
Utah. care OF the postmaster In New
York"
And here's another thing" said
one: Tell those moving picture com
panies to send us out a few decent
films. We pay a dollar apiece for
those films, but out OF three we had
! last night two went all 20 thunder. 1t
strikes me war amt any time to palm
off phony stuff on the navy. You tell
those companies in New York We sx-
pect 'em to come right across with
the goods"
MY mother keeps writing. Are
you well?'" said another boy whn
| looked sixteen. "Of course. I'm well
but when l went home last week
on leave. do you know what she did
when she opened the door? She seen
me and tainted. that's what she did.
and l had to spend my pay on doc
tors bills on her. What was
wrong?" I asked him. "Oh. some
kind friend had told her our ship
had gone down with all on board.
Say. mister. you fix it up In the pa
pers. Tell 'em the navy is all here"
Target Practice.
A few minutes later back on board.
stood at ll:3O by the galley amid
ships and watched the long line of
mess cooks file past the open win
dows OF the galley with huge pans.
some shallow and some deep. into
which the cooks served the midday
chow" There was soup made Of
beef and onions and barley. and there
WAS boiled beef and potatoes. peas
and carrots. coffee and bread. and ap-
/ pie pie. / followed down to the gun
decks, where the tables were set out
close alongside the five-inch guns. 1t
was airy and clean, and nearly 900
! hungry boys were soon eating busiIy
They were hurrying to get through
in time for target practice Soon the
tables were cleared away and the gun
decks were crowded with rockies hav-