The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-07-06
What Happens When Several
Hundred Jackies Are Turned
Loose for Shore Liberty.
MAKES FOR The HAPPY SHIP
libera!ity Of Private Citizens Has
Given Men Of the Fleet a Big Ath-
Ietic Field for Their
Recreation.

tIeet.-lt is two bells in the afternoon
watch when the shrill trill of the
bos'n's whistles are heard piping the
crews Of the mighty d~readnaughts to
the rails and the sing-song cries of
the bos'n's mates carry out over the
water, Liberty party to muster"
This is The given three
times each week to the men OF the At
lantic fleet to take their hours Of recre-
alton on the immense athletic field pro-
vided for them by the Navy league.
By the hundreds. on every battleship
and cruiser, the youthful, white-uni-
formed Jackies come rushing on deck
to form into line for the liberty in
spection.
Two long white lines form on deck
and every man stands rigidly at atten-
ton while officers pass along marking
the appearance of each one. Their uni
forms are Spotlessly white. Their shoes
freshly blackened. Off come their lit
tie round white caps to show that their
hair Is closely cropped. No visitor to
the feet fails to be struck, when he
NACNS lhll Illc at lilSpcSllOIl, VI LIN
extreme youth of the men, their intelli-
gent faces and happy, smart appear
ance. The average age appears to be
less than twenty years and many of
them seem barely to have passed their
eighteenth birthday on the date of
their enlistment. From every state In
the Union they hail and thousands of
them from the farms Of the middle
West. A collection certainly Of Amer
ica's finest gathered on the deck Of a
floating fortress to form the first line
Of the nations defense.
Off for Day Of Sport.
On every ~sun-tanned face is worn a
broad smile in expectation of the sport
that the afternoon will bring. Over
the rail, the visitor sees the ships
launches bobbing about in the seaway
with tie bowmen holding fast to the
ships side with their b%oathooks. Then
the sharp word of command rings out
Oh deck and the white line Of sailors
begins to nov forward toward the
gangway and the men go over the side
to the waiting launches.
Discipline begins to give way a lit
tie at this point, although the OK
swain of the boat is all business as
he calls. to the bowmen to shove off.
The afternoons recreation has begun.
Thousands of superfluously healthy.
absolutely carefree and very young
men are turned loose. To be sure
there is the provost guard with their
policemen's sticks, but that is only to
guard against the chance of ugly blood
developing from the fun, which does
not happen.
is reached the men from the launches
tumble out pell-mell and Immediately
begins 4 raid upon the canteen. Pop
is sold faster than corks can be pulled.
The man who gets anything over The
canteen counter fights for it. You
II come with our change ready or
go without. There is too much bust
ness to stop to change money.
W~atermclons Last Quick.
A pump receives the overflow from
the canteen and those who have been
unable to spend their money for candy
or pop take their chances Oh getting
ducked under the pump. \ farmer
drives onto the field with a load of
watermelons. At 90 cents apiece his
waternrelons last about fifty seconds.
A culored cooks helper buys a melon
and dives into 1t when a huge hand
belonging to a Jackie from an Indiana
farm buries the dark's face into the
melon up to his ears. Another enter
prising farmer brings some old farm
nags on the field to hire them out for
'gentlemen's mounts" to the sailors.
Obviously the horses are about as
used to their saddles as a hog Is to
work. But they are hired by the sail
ors at any price the farmer asks. A
lad halllng from Maine takes his first
chance on horseback and slides down
the horses neck. His shipmate yells
at him, go aft, you fool, go aft"
The thousands of jackies swarm
over the field. Hundreds Of them break
and run for the beach for a swim. 4
crowd of them gather at target prac-
tice with small rifles. Six Of the ten
baseball diamonds are promptly lslt
into use by scrub teams.
And then more launches from the
battleships come In bringing the star
baseball teams from four Of the battle
ships. A double-header Is to be played
between four of the best teams Of the
fleet in a series to determine the fleet
championship. The grand stands FL
rapidly and oon they are a swelling
sea Of white suits and red and brown
faces as the sailors cheer their ships
teams on to victory. Rafting good
ball is played by these navy teams.
The nine men on the diamond repre-
sent the pick Of a thousand from a
battleship and they play with the In
:erest and a good bit Of the money Of
he whole crew backing them. They
rain and work for months for a cham
oionship series like this.
Provides the sHappy 9hlpsw