Omaha daily bee., 1919-06-22
OLD-TIME "SALT"
GIVES " AY. TO
CLEAN CUT YOUTH
Through Energy Of Boston
Woman, Young Men Of
U. S. Merchant Marine
Form Club.

With the close OF the war another
fctioned type of American man
hood is about to disappear. The
old-time merchant marine, the prov
erbial "hardshell" has disappeared
into a past already peopled by pi-
rates, long-bearded sea captains and
sea rovers.
Neither the German army nor
navy, submarine force or airplane
power drove him away. Instead he
has disappeared largely through the
kindness and the effects of one lit
tie woman, Mrs. Henry Howard of
Boston and Brookline, Mass.
Out of many openings she chooses
for her interest this new type of
merchant marine who answered the
governments call for seaman; the
type who for the first time left dis
taf1t homes with no idea of the try
ing handicaps to developing sea
legs" She saw vision of how this
new interest could be made a per-
manent adjunct to the present sys-
tenn of manning American ships
with cleancut. self-respecting Amer
lean crews. And this means the dis
appearance of the old merchant ma
rine, practically a man without
country" separated temporarily
from his country's economic inter-
ests, living a life made up of short
and intense periods of individual
hilarity ashore followed by long,
long stretches of the seas lonely
isolation. His very whereabouts
were unknown to his family or
friends.
Connection With Hom..
This very fact formed the nucleus
of Mrs. Howard's service bureau
during the war. The Home Service
of the Red Cross kept the fathers
and mothers in some connection
with army and navy, but the mer-
chant marine would have been en-
tirely separated except for this one
woman and her social bureau. Going
among her friends she told in
simple, touching way of uncer-
tainty that came to families about
the brothers, sons or many newly
married men who went unhesitat-
ingly into the dangers of the open
sea. Submarine attacks, torpedoes
made it necessary for many to
chance their lives to open boats,
with a prospect of being taken, if
rescued, penniless to some foreign
port. This gave her money to
answer every appeal that came for
help from the absent merchant
sailors family. There was no ap-
preparation but neither was there
one appeal unanswered.
But the main field in which Mrs.
Howard did her work was in the
social service centers created at the
various training stations. I'm
daunted by the scorn of aged sailors
who scoffed at "coddling' these
newcomers, she and her friends
went among them. Unconsciously
they picked up the things that were
the surest to Danish inconsistencies.
Missing buttons were sewed on, let
tiers were written. base ball games
and athletics started, and lastly
merchant marine club was es-
tablished in Norfolk, Va, where for
the first time, a merchant sailor,
with his newly adopted uniform,
might mingle at club and feel at
home.
Homes in Foreign Ports.
But another vision comes with
this reality: Mrs. Howard sees in
the future a chain of such homes in
foreign ports of the world cooper
ating with local social centers where
the merchant sailor, particularly the
American, will find himself well
come. She wanted to clear the
vision of these newly enlisted men
so that they could and would look
upon the world with a clear and
friendly eye, whatever port they
enter.
Until this vision becomes realized
she keeps in touch with all these
men by sailors directory, showing
the mariner the way to a kindly
greeting at any shore.
So, starting with these boys, who
for the first time had left home, a
series of magical changes came over
the hitherto accepted type of mer-
chant sailor and his life. A uniform |
gave him prestige where hitherto
he had no standing; hostess house |
gave him a place to entertain and
be entertained as the army and navy |
men; the Red Circle club of the
War Camp Community service pro-
vided a place to play billiards, bowl
or smoke in a pleasurable environ |
ment, and a woman and the various
agencies who later became interest
ed in her work provided a place
where sick were nursed in mind as |
we'll as body and where each was
helped to adjust himself to his new
surroundings.