Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1917-06-22
ENTHUSIASM RUNS
HIGH AMONG MEN
On BIC WARsH|PS

AACol0 PlplHS tllC SlONo VI NhO 1hlShs3
dreadnoughts to the rails and the
sing song cries OF the bos'n's mates
carry out over the water, Liberty
party to muster" 4
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
field provided for them by the Navy
League. BY the hundreds, on every
battleship and cruiser, the youthful,
white uniformed Jackies come rushing
en- deck to form into line for the lib
erty inspection.
Two long white lines form on deck
and every man stands rigidly at atten-
ton while officers pass along mark
ing the appearance of each man. Their
uniforms are spotlessly white. Their
shoes freshly blackened. Off come
their little round white caps to show
that their hair is closely cropped. No
visitor to the Fleet fails to be struck,
when he views that line at inspection
with the extreme youth of the men,
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 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 certain
~ of Americas finest gathered on the
deck of floating fortress to form the
first line of the nations defense.
On every sun tanned face is worn
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 the bowmen holding fast
to the ships side with their boat
hooks. Then the sharp word of COM
mand rings out on deck and the white
line of sailors begins to move forward
toward the gangway and the men go
over the side to the waiting launches
Discipline begins to give away lit
tie at this point, although the COX.
swain of the boat is all business as he
calls to the bowmen to shove off. The
afternoons recreation has begun
Thousands of super1uously healthy
absolutely carefree and very young
men are turned loose. To be sure
there is the provost guard against the
chance of ugly blood developing from
the fun, which does not happen.
When the dock at the athletic fell
is reached the men from the launches
tumble out pell NELL and Immediately
begin a raid upon the canteen. Pop
| is sold faster than corks can be pull
| ed. The man who gets anything over
the canteen counter fights for it. You
must come with your change ready or
80 without. There is too much bust
ness to stop to change money.
A pump receives the overflow from
the canteen and those who have beer
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 n
load of watermelons. At fifty gents
apiece his watermelons last about fifty
seconds. A colored cooks helper
buys a melon and dives into it wher
huge hand belonging to Jackie
from an Indiana farm buries the
darky's face into the melon up to his
ears. Another enterprising 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 sad
dies as hog is to work. But they
are hired by the sailors at any price
the farmer asks. A lad hailing from
Maine takes his first chance on horse
back and slides down the horses neck.
His shipmate yells at him, Go aft
you fool, go aft"
The thousands of Jackies swarm
lover the field. Hundreds of them break
and run for the beach for a swim. A
crowd of them gather at target prae-
tice with small rifles. Six of the ten
baseball diamonds are promptly put
irto use by scrub teams.
And then more launches from the
battleships come in bringing the star
baseball teams from four of the bat
tieships. 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 fill rapidly and soon they are a
swelling sea of white suits and red
and brown faces as the sailors cheer
their ships teams on to victory. Rat
Ting GOOD ball is played by thes-
Navy teams. The nine men on the
diamond represent the pick of a