Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1917-06-29
POWER OF navy
Lies in Men Who Feed Hungry
Mouths in Engine Room.
Deep in cavernous Reeesses OF Great
HuIIs Firemen Bend Backs That
Traditions Of Nation May
Be Upheld.

"The power of the navy Is in me-.
Big Jack Dempsey, fireman recruit
thus unburdened himself as he sat
with legs dangling on the turret or
big United States battleship.
Around him seethed the preparation
for war. From the huge navy YARD
shops arose the din and clamOr OF
mighty force rushing the final work to
place i'm readiness the big steel nght-
ing machines which are to play an I'M
portant part I'm unfolding the honor or
our nation. On the parade ground al
jacent. a couple Of hundred bluejack-
cts were running a quarter mile oval.
hardening up for their work ahead
writes New York correspondent.
Something Of the inspiration of this
vitality energetic scene glistened In MS
eyes. as he swept his pipe stem In
short semi-circle before him to EN-
phasize the night of which he was
master.
Huge of frame, horny Of hand ~
Dempsey. 1t was only two days ago
that he drifted into the navy recruit
ing Office to offer himself to his coun-
try.
"Whetber it's sailOrin' or soldierin'.
told 'em at the recruiting Office it's the
same to me so long as l can serve me
country. Anyways. that a man can
serve and do his duty In a time like
this Is the best way
$50 l enlisted as fireman. the
greatest branch of the service Of the
United States navy.
"When a man has put in few years
on the job. there Is sOmethin' about
the firebOx Of engine that pulls you
to ii. once you have fed the big. hun
CRY mouths that are always open and
rOarin'.
every man in his task. says I. and
I'm fireman by inclination and force
OF habit And 1t is me duty to play
fireman for Uncle Sam when he needs
me above all others.
"Once stocked on a tramp steamer.
and IL was there l learned the power
of me calm.
1--WE wuz down where the henthens
and the fever wuZ thick as mud, and
when the sickness took hold Of the Off
GERS and crew until they WIZ only
handful Of us left to navigate the craft.
What with the fever raging We had
powerful time. One afther another the
boys below down with sickness, and IL
was then the real trouble began.
1T wuz the captain himself who
came down to talk to us. Boys, he
said. 4 kin get along without me Off
GERS. but for the love Of heaven. me
ship will perish II me firemen desert
me in this. me hour of need
THAT is why / say the power Of the
navy is In me. When the coal stops
the battleships stop, and the enemy
can take yer ut his own time"
Across the slip between the big ship
and the next door the sailor drill had
spread out into an open door exercise.
They were the ''men behind the guns"
an integral part of the great fighting
mechanism which Is soon to spread ITS
influence worldwide in the mighty
conflict facing this nation. I looked
sideways ut the man beside me. who
represented the silent working force
Of the American battleships, but his
gaze was lifted above the immediate
animation of moving units. 1t rested
in the smOke-clouds coming from the
huge stack Of an adjoining vessel.
"The boys hev started work fer
Uncle SAM" he observed. with touch
Of pride. And I knew that down In
the cavernOus recesses Of that gray
steel hull. other representatives of the
power Of the navy" were bending
their backs to the end that the tradi
lions of the American navy might be-
upheld and the honor of the flag main
tanned upon the seas,