The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-06-18
PARTY TO MUSTER" IS WELCOME SOUND TO JACKIES NOW
 IN TRAINING ON EMPHASIZES
Navy Leagues Efforts to Provide Recreation for Sailors
 Does Much to Prevent Sea Duty Becoming Irksome.

With the United States Atlantic Fleet, June 1s.-It Is two bells in the afternoon watch when the shrili whistle of the bos'n's whistles are heard piping the crews of the mighty dreadnoughts 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 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 Jaclies come rush. ing on deck to form into line for the liberty inspection.
 Two long white lines form on deck and every man stands rigfdly at at tention while officers pass along marking the appearance of each one. ahsir uniforms are spotlessly white. Their shoes are freshly p1ackened. 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 QI LlG IIAGIls LIlS1T 1IILCht1f5OIl( AcSSIo eAANA happy, smart appearance. The aver age age appears to be less than twen- tys years and many of them seem barely to have passed thir eighteenth birthday on the date of their enlist rr1ent From. every state in the Un- ion they hail and thousands of them from the farms of the Middle West. A collection certainly of America's s finest gathered on the deck of a fioating fortress to form the first line of the nations defense. v
 On every. sun tanned face is wcrE 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 the bowmen holding fast to the ships side with their boat hooks Then the sharp word of com u1and rings out on deck and the white line of sailors begins to move toward the gangway and the men go over the side to the waiting launches.
 Discipline begins to give way a lit tile at this point, although the cox iswain of the boat is all business as Inc calls to the bowrnen to shove off. The afternoons recreation has begun. Thousands of superfluousiy 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.
 When the dock afsthe athletic field 1s renched the men fvom the lunches tumble out pell mell and immediately begins a raid upon the canteen- Pop is sold faster than corks can be pull- Ied. The man who gets anything over the canteen counter fights for it. You must come with your change ready or igo without. There is too much busi- lness to stop to change money.
 A pump recetves the overflow from gthe caflteen and those who have been unable to spend their money for can dy or pop take their chances on get fling tucked under the pump. A far .mer drives onto the, field with aiload of watermelons. At fifty cents epfece his watermelons last about fifty sec onds. A colored cooks helper buys a melon and dives into it when a huge hand belonging to Jackie from an Indiana farm buries the dark's face into the melon up to his ears. An other enterprising farmer brings some old farm nass on the field to