Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-06-25
HUMOR
IN NAVAL YARNS

Great Lakes, ILL.,. June 26.-There
are naval yarns to be spun and nauti-
cal Jokes to be cracked among youth
full tars at the Great Lakes naval
training station here. but circulation
by word Of mouth-all right perhaps
wars too slow in the midst Of hum
dreds Of acres and 5000 men. That 10
why tho Great Lakes Recruit, edited
by Ensign ]. c.. ,Waldron. lourishes ~
the purveyor Of all those neat sayings
OF which exuberant youths are guilty,
but for which otherwise they would
have only a limited audience.
Sketches illustrate many Of the
wheezes, and in a recent issue of the
dressing his superior in q front OF a
building labeled Radio Station" over
which stretch the antennae Of the
wireless plant, 400 feet in the air.
"Say, officer, how do you except q
fellow to hang his watching up there?"
the puzzled landsman desires to know.
An echo of one Of the sham battles
staged on the bluffs overlooking Lake
Michigan is seen in another contribu-
ton:
"Rookie-why does this gun kick
Chief Petty onicer-Probaoly you
Then there is the verbatim-guaran-
ted report of the comment Of a young
woman visitor to the station, who pre-
viously had seen the khaki and puttee
clad student officers at Fort Sheridan,
and who remarked with f1nality:
II think the navy is much better to
its men than the army. It's easy for
the soilors to put or their wide-bot-
toned trousers, but the soldiers must
have q terrible time in getting their
feet through those twisted trouser
legs."'
The healthy superiority Of the
American boy is pictured in a chesty
youth, who is talking to a mate:
Did you know that Commandant
Mofrett is under me?"
"How's that?"
I'm tower watch in the administra-
ton building"
In Arbuckle's Glass.
Given three months at the station
and the boys IN parade look like
Olympic athletes in their splendid car
riage. But an idea of some of the
material with which their physical in
structors had to work in portrayed in
a sketch in which a bailoon-shaped
recruit is talking to the store keeper:
Say, I want to take out another
tent asks Heavy"
What did you do with the other
one I gave you?"
I'm using it for a work jumper"
The next sketch specifies Raw Re-
cruit" as one Of the characters. indi-
eating that II the artist had happened
along a day later the new man would
not have been floundering in the lake,
while a perplexed officer and a mirth-
full squad occupied the bank.
Say, Jones. what are you doing in
the water?" asks the officer.
Sir, didn't o order us to fall in o.
Through all the contributions runs
an unquenchable strain of humor
with every now and then a dash OF
sentimentality which couldn't helr
creeping in 81 the writer though OF
those he left behind. Germany and
the U-boats necessarily draw the fire
of men impatient to be up and a
them. Typical of the spirit Of the sta.
ton. as Of the pokes on these subjects
Is one which tells of two lads arguing
about the translation Of Deutschland
Uber Allies"
1T it's all over with Ger.
many" was one's explanation which
still remains u~nchallenged.
Reports of athletic events at the sta,
ton and articles by officers on nava
history and ship life give a more seri
Gus touch to the magazine,