The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1918-05-30
. Letters From and About Soldiers .

Miss Georgia Lynn recently received +
from her sailor friend, Ben Ross, OF
the u. S. S. Pittsburgh. the man Of
vars publication. The SaRo. The in
.eresting ships magazine contained an
Entertaining article, Crossing the
Equator, by Dad Swinyer. A part
Of the article follows:
Well, We hit the equator all right,
on schedule time, at longitude So de-
grees 6 minutes ". half way between
the South American and African cOntl-
nents. At the psychological moment
the ships band otficiated, as a guard of
honor to his Royal Highness and his
court. Old Neptune went right TO the
bat and Immediately TIED her loose
and let her went, and believe me, she
esty there were .learned judges, doc
tors, surgeons and an.Admlral, also
score of personages of inferior ranks,
including the Royal barriers, Roy al
policemen, the Royal bears, imps and
lambasters. All the foregoing were
arrayed in a manner suitable to their
respective stations for..didn't the doc
tors look wise in their tall hats. long
robes and huge glasses; and wasn't
Painful Parker, the dentist, sight
The doctors had the skull and cross
bones. emblematic of death.
And didn't the whole bunch look and
shine resplendent in enormous wigs OF
unbraided rope? Sure they did The
foregoing people were not circum-
stance, however, to Her Majesty and
4 l., DO,,nl Dahxr ha tub bod only ptaii
pounds and carried gallon size nurs-
ing bottle.
"Some Queen" shouted the boys. as
Her Majesty appeared, next to nature
except that the Royal parsonage was
carelessly draped in a striking gown OF
quite transparent material. Hippo
Burns, the gigantic negro baby. al
though naturally very dark in color,
was made blacker still by coating OF
grease and graphite and he sure did
| "shne" to beat the band.
Just as their Majesties and the Royal
Court ascended to the ceremonial plat
form the Royal Navigator took COM
mand Of the ship as far as routine
went, with the understanding that he
should take orders only from His
Royal Highness, Neptune Rex. He
was grizzled sea-faring man of stern
aspect and dominating will, and was
qualified for the job he displayed
enough medals to nearly sink the ship.
Then there were the Huskies, called
bears, who entered the tank to see
that each one of the thousand initiates
should have bath, for once in their
lives, at least. Permit me to incident
ally remark that the aforesaid huskies
didn't last long, as the candidates that
were first soused became so enraged
that they pitched their tormentOrs
over board and then proceeded to even
things up by half drowning the others
that were to follow. From this time
on it was no fun to hit the tank. Now
Just you think of being ducked by a
dozen big huskies repeatedly, and then
dragged by the heels under the water,
and each time that YOUR head appeared
above the water to have it soaked by a
stuffed club which was pretty hard
some of them being stuffed with sand.
1t was a miracle that no accidents hap
pened and that the day ended with
everybody in a good humOr. Only
sailor lads could stand the hard knocks
that were handed out that day and
then "bob up serenely from below.
His Highness, the Royal Baby (Hippo
Burns), was destined to be much
Kissed that festive day, and he took it
all in good part, as he always takes
everything. Hippo is unusually popu-
lar with the crew, largely because he
is boxer Of no mean ability.
As about 40 members of the ship S
company had been over the line before,
they had no little task ahead of them
in doing justice to their fellow ship
mates who had not. These 40 meu
saw to it that no man escaped. Now,
as matter of fact, Uncle Sans offic-
ers of high rank were not immune
from the same treatment accorded the
men. These officers did not know
whether they were destined to taste
he medicine, dance the hula hula. kiss
the baby, be smeared with tar or to be
dragged through the tank. Therefore
when the Commander of the ship, ir
full uniform, headed the procession OF
candidates, tremendous cheer rent
the air. The Commander met the
judges Implying eye in dignified
manner and received this jolt, Guilty
Of coWardice in turning tail every time
you have come near the line. Ter
dollars" But, your Honor" DRY
, up, no butts to me when holler it's
; law Five bucks more, Next !"
, The ships dentist came IN for fine
of 10 Simoleons, because he had the
nerve to enlist as dentist, when he
should have shipped as blacksmith
or plumber And five more was as
r sessed him because he had dirty teeth
= An ensign got ten dollars, and wa!
forced to kiss the Baby. This Officer
, was southerner, but he acquiesced il
good part, while the boys yelled theil
/ heads off The Chaplain was soaked /
r pair of deuces for flirting with Hel
1 Royal Majesty; two fves for loafine
six days in the week and a sinlge bon,
for working on Sundays. Another was
2 assessed one million reis Ia bushel O
these Brazilian coins are worth abou
80 cents)
: Great rivalry is displayed between
the 18th and 2lst Companies stationed
at Fort Candy. One of the chief reas
| ons for this keen rivalry is that th'
men of the two organizations are
drilled by brothers, Sgts. Walter anC
Ernest Ford, sons of Mr.. and Mrs
Isaac Ford, of this city. Both youns
e men were formerly in 18th Co. Waite
$ Ford was transferred recently, how
t ever, to the 2lst. Ford brothers ar,
5 known here for their athletic prowess
9 The sergeant of the 2lst Co. was on,
Y of the prominent members of the Vol
unteer fire department.
t Both young men have found them
! selves exceedingly busy lately, tn,
= ranks of the organizations, following
S transfers of trained men, having beer
e filled with green recruits. Sgt. Ernes
e Ford has found among his privates
little Chinaman. The Oriental hal
! learned fast and has become the mas
! cot of the Company. Many Nationa
e Army men from Tennessee and Ala
o bama have been assigned to the 21s
s Co.
n 1T has been task" writes Sgt
+, Walter Ford, but we are making fin,