The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-06-30
ey eoUvERNEUR MORRIS.

BY GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.
international News STAFF Correspondent
Somewhere Near America.-On Fri
day, May IL, received permission 10
visit feet Of United States warshlps,
was told where TO find 1t, how to reach
1t, and that until Thursday, the 24th
of May, must not convey to the news
papers which l represent any OF the
impressions that 1t should make upon
me, nor all of the impressions until
the end of the war.
1t may be of interest TO the puonc
to know that the fleet which visited
IS somewhere in American waters, ana
| that, backed by the proper authority
It may be reached in several ways
More than this am not permitted to
say. nor may l give the composition OF
| the fleet, nor the names OF the ships
composing it, nor of any of the officers
governing those ships.
I must deal in impOsitiveS. If saw
faults or virtues must not particular
lie. In short, l must tell about the
feet without telling about it, and give
O general impression with most OF the
| impressions left out.
BattIeshp a Man.
I shall deal, then rather with the
humanities of the feet than with Its
mechanics; with its aspects rather
than its potentialities. And with one
particular ship rather than with
many.
II has been said that modern bat
ueship is q machine. 1t is not. 1t is
man. His eyes may no longer have
the vision of youth, but he sees
through O hundred pairs, whose WIS.,
ion is twenty-twenty magnif1ed many
diameters by lenses eXQuisitely adj
justed; his hands may not be large or
strong, but they have within them
almost gods power to destroy.
1t Is as if his brain had multiplied
his eyes and made telescopes of them'
had increased his body to an omlnous
and beautiful abomination, displaclng
10000 tons, and had heightened his
arms and strengthened his hands IN
til they could reach out clear away
| over the Till VI lIlc "Oiius anu IAA~-
smash and crush and tear and kill.
It was twenty years since l had set
foot on q battleship. There was some
thing familiar about him and some
thing strange II was like meeting a
promising friend Of your boyhood az
ter he had grown into man. q Will
not bessie warships, nor be-her them.
They are menu He had grown older,
wiser, grayer, stronger, broader, tall
er and swifter. And though neither
of us had forgotten the best, nor the
worst of those things which we had
once had in common, he eyed me
askance, and I.felt embarrassed and
shy.
Warshp Now More Kind.
The officer of the deck spoke to q
seaman. And by the tone Of the voice
knew that friend battleship had not
only grown stronger and greater, but
SO sure of himself that he could at
ford to be more courteous and more
kind. Things happened. A meal came
and went. One threw dice for the CT
CARS, One lost One listened and one
talked, and one began to associate II
the back of ones head this face with
the rightful name of its owner ant
that insignia with the Office OF its
. wearer.
No two faces Of the uniformed mel
around the long, narrow table Of the
ward room mess were alike. Blu
they were all fine, clean-cut faces OF
vigorously educated men in the plni
Of physical condition. Like all trav
elers, they were broad-minded, ant
like all men who have been brough
ND among true values, they were
without affectation of any kind.
have said that battleshfp Is
man. 1t is not. 1t is city.
That it is q walled city, defended
by terrible cannon, every man knows
: So I shall not here and now speai
| of the magic eyes with which 1t see
: the approach of the enemy, the thicl
/ armor with which it repels his blows
. nor of the terrible cannon with which
: 1t returns them.
, The government is the flagship
| The admirals are the governors o
. states and the captains and com
4 handlers are the mayors of cities ant
: towns. 1t is complete civilization
: q floating country, to which the de
votion of its seamen and fremen i
, as necessary as that of its admirals
, CAPTAINS and commanders.
3 But to return to our city. 1t Oil
j fers from land cities in that 1t recoe
5 nizes neither night nor day. Their
8 are more people awake in the day
time than at night; but the city's eye
are never closed. And during eac
!. minute Of his waking hours each cit
zen knows what he must do, or whs
he may do.
z Our Ships at Sea.
One day learned that on the TO
lowing morning we were going out.
Close to my room was one Of tn
> steel tubes through which the ancho
e chains slide, and very early l. wa
: Weakened by a sound that was as if, o
> dozen adjoining alleys, giants wer
: bowling and making ten-strikeS.
Ii little later | felt the first revOlutiOsl