Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-06-25
NAVAL SOLDIERS
LIFE NOT so BAD
Liberty Parties Furnish Much
Needed Variety to Program
of Jackies.
HAVE GREAT SPORT AT PLAY
Exercise Grounds and Athletic
Fields Provided by the
Navy League.

WITH THE UNITED STATES AT
LANTIC FLEET. June 2t.-It is two
bells in the afternoon watch when tho
shrll tril OF the bos'n's whistles
are heard piping the crews of the
mighty dreadnaughts to the rails ana
the sing-song cries of the bos'n's mates
carry out over the water. Liberty
party TO muster"
This Is the summons given three
times each week to the men of the
Atlantic fleet to take their hours of
recreation on the immense athletic
Ncld provided for them by the navy
league. By the hundreds, on every
battleship and cruiser the youthful.
white uniformed Jackies como rush
ing on deck to form into line for the
liberty inspection.
Young. Strong. Happy.
Two long white lines form on deck
and every man stands rigidly at at
tention while officers pass mark
ing the appearance OF each one. Their
uniforms are spotless white. Their
shoes freshly blackened. Off comes
their little round white caps to snow
that their hair is closely cropped. No
visitor to the fleet fails to be struck,
when he views that line at inspeclion,
their intelligent faces and happy,
smart appearance. The average age
appears to be less than twenty years
and many of them seem barely to
have passed their eighteeth birthday
on the date of their enlistment. IRON
every state in the Union they hail ana
thousands Of them from the farms of
the middlewest. A collection GER
! tainly of Americas finest gathered
] n Of artra
form the first line of the nauon's
defense
On every sun tanned face is worn
n broad smile in expectation of the
sport that the afternoon will bring.
over the rail. the visitor sees the
| ships launches bobping about in the
seaway with the bowmen holding fast
to the ships side with their boathooks.
! Then the sharp word of command
rings out on deck and the white line
OF sailors begins to move forward to-
ward the gangway and the men go
over TO the waiting launches.
Discipline Relaxcs.
Discipline begins to give away n
little at this point, altho the coxswain
of the boat is all business as he calls
| to the bowmen to shove off Tne
| afternoons recreation has begun.
Thousands Of superfluously healthy,
| absolutely carefree and very young
men are turned loose. To lie 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.
When the dock at the athletic field
| Is reached the men from the launches
tumble out pell-mell and Immediately
| begins a raid upon the canteen. Pop
| Is sold faster than the corks can be
| pulled. The man who gets anything
over the canteen counter fights for
| 1t. You must come with your change
ready or go without. There Is too
much business to stop to change any
| money
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 on getting
ducked under the pump. a farmer
drives onto the field with a load or
watermelons At fifty cents apiece
his watermelons last about fifty sec
onds.
The thousands of Jackies swarm
over the field. Hundreds of them
break and run for the beach for
| swim. A crowd of them gather at
target practice with small rifles. Six
Of the ten baseball diamonds are
promptly put into use by scrub teams
Baseball Teams Organized.
And then more launches from the
battleships come in bringing the star
baseball teams from four of the battle
ships. doubleheader is to be play
ed between four of the >best teams -,
the fleet in a series to determine the
fleet championship. The grandstands
fill rapidly and soon they are aswell-
ing sea of white suits and red and
brown faces as the sailors cheer their
ships teams on to victory. Rattling
good ball is played by these navy
teams. The nine men on the dia-
mond represent the pick of thou
sand from battleship and they play
, with the interest and a good bit of
the money OF the whole crew backing
them. They train and work for
months for Il championship series like
this.
It is tho liberality Of private Amer
lean citizens that has given these men
of the fleet their big athletic field
J When the war came on the fleet lost
. the income it usually had for its ath-
lctic fund from the Guantanamo can
. teen and Navy league OF the United
States offered to lay out a field for
l the men of the fleet. In all about
4 1l5 acres have been obtained. The
ground has been leveled. ploughet
, and prepared. Ten baseball dia-
5 monds have been laid out. Dock,
{ were built at the waters edge. A
bathing beach was cleared. The Of
l flcers of the fleet also were provided
r With tennis courts and a golf course
Every sort of sport Is found there
v The result is that every man on tne
0 fleet has plenty OF healthy outdoor
$ sport and the officers of the fleet say
y that this provision for their .recrea-
$ ton has done much TO provide "'happy
A ships" in the fleet as 1t waits for the
Z opportunity to strike blow at the