The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-05-24

] sixteen OF youSe. TnaI viii DS
all at present-from your aft.
has yet befallen any big ship in the
L. S. n. And II most mothers could
see their sons they would be amazed
at the change. Are they well? They
are indeed. They fill out here and
straighten up and grow at an amaz'
ing rate. There is one bluejacket on
board who il pointed out as "the
guy who grew six inches in five
months"
Urge Others To Come.
'"They get quite a different look
in their eyes," the chaplain said to
me today. 'I never get over being
surprised at the way they strengthen
up their whole moral fibre in a few
weeks, and at the way they take to
this work. In their letters home,
which 1 am reading. eight boys out
! OF ten urge others to come" Many
of them go home on leave and there
they try to recruit their friends.
One OF them came proudly back
with the news. Il nailed eleven Of my
pals" but others return disguised.
MY town" said one, in gloomy tones,
lis in a h of a fix. Everyone Is
giving three cheers and then lining
up for home defense and the little old
red school-house. Their flag II
mothers old red shawl"
was over at the flagship today.
and at lunch the admiral said: "What
the American youngster needs and
what we try to give him here is the
big idea OF national service, some
thing he never had before. He never
afnnRnd to Ill o.. he haa 81
too used to getting things. Now hos
learning the habit of giving, too, and
Is beginning to understand he owes
something to the country. 1t will
widen his outlook on the world. In
two cases out OF three he lived in a
small Western town where they read
little or no foreign news. Now such
lads are going to sea- to lead lives
that will stir their inaginatinna As
they have never been stirred before"
Amid busy scenes among these lads
find myself seeing curious pictures
Of what is awaiting them over the
sea. There are grim reminders, for
wherever you go you come now and
then abruptly on the long ugly noses
OF guns, you meet the ponderous mon
sters in gun decks all along the sides,
you see rows OF big shells along the
walls. and frequently as you go about
you see painted on the white steel
walls a red cross and a red arrow
pointing to the nearest place where a
wounded boy can go for aid.
Pictures Possibilities.
This morning on another ship I
went into the turret that houses three
fourteen-inch guns. 1t was a massive
crowded place with barely room to
squeeze in and out. A chamber OF
white painted steel. of brass bars, and
tubes and cylinders. Of tiny ladders
up and down, and OF small leather
bicycle seats: a place where men fit
in like sardines, place OF little wink
ing lights. red, white. and green.
tried TO picture II as Il would be when
these little lights. the ready lights"
fash out, and the shells that weigh
500 pounds and the powder bags
come leaping up on cars through a
pit from the magazine which is far
below, are driven crashing into the
guns and the breech plugs close, and
a boy with a "buEEer" strapped to
his back and his eyes glued to a tele- |
scope, gets the cross wires" on the |
enemy ship. In the coming tower !
far above, from which all this IL be- /
ing directed, an officer presses a but !
ton, and here the buzzer jangles |
twice. stand by" Then one long !
buzz, and a boy down here. the FIR
ing pointer" presses q button. The J
big guns like beasts leap backward. !
recoil upon huge cylinders filled with |
cIinging fiuid and springs, and in |
stsntly as the breech plug opens there |
Is q wild shrek OF compressed air /
which blows out the bore for an
haI tai
to load the three guns. tried to pic 1
ture in my mind the ship outside
this modern ship in the modern war
with no crowds OF men upon her |
decks, but almost entirely out OF 4.
sight. as in the trenches on the land !
Enemy shells rushing overhead tear
ing steel from the rigging. Loud 1
explosions down below. Steel splInt-
ers flying on every side. The roar OF .
guns! The wounded, the dead!
But from such 4 nightmare one /
wakens here TO rub his eyes and see |
a dozen stolid lads comfortably seat
ed out on deck, talking and laughing /
and peelinE potatoes, one OF them
whistIing. Father is
Working for the Movies Now" Or,
again. you go ashore, as ! did this
q fternoon. and. on a wood-sncircled
field filled with bluejackets yelling
like demons. you see a baseball game !,
in the championship series. Today
our ship played thea" Ship plays /
ship in each division. division win
ners then play off, and so finally the
squadron winners for the champion
ship OF the fleet. Ship plays ship and
boy meets boy. They are here from
East and West and South and North,
and in their recreation hours there Is
a grand mixing going on. Mingled
with the bugle calls, the long. hard
Jangle OF the gongs. and the high thin
notes Of the boatswain'S pipe, you
hear laughter. singing, talking. kid