The state herald., 1919-02-14
CHAPTER I.
In the American Navy.

Ny father was q seaman. 20, nat
urally, all my life heard q great deal
about ahips and the sea. Even when
I was q little boy, In Walston. Pa, I
thought about them q whole lot and
wanted to be q sailor-especially Q
sailor In the q. 8. navy.
You might say I was brought up on
the water.
When I was twelve jean old went
to sea - cabin boy On the whaler
Thsrifus. out Of Boston. She was an
old squars-rigged sailing ship. built
more for work than for speed. We
were out four months on my nrst
cruise, and got Knocked around q lot.
especially In . storm on the Newfound-
land Banks. where We lost our instru.
ments. and had q hard time navigat-
ing the ship. Whaling crews work o.
shares and during the two years I was
on the Therifus my shares amounted
to fourteen hundred dollars.
Then I shipped a. nrst-class helms
man On the British tramn Southern.
down. . tw1n-screw steamer out Of
Liverpool. Many people are surprised
that . fouFtsen-year-old boy should b
hslmman On IN oesan-going eraft.
but all over Tie world you win 80
young lads doing their trick at the
wheel. I was On the eouthsrndown
two years and In that timo visited
most Of the important ports Of Eu-
rope. There b nothing IKE Q tramp
steamer II you want to zee the world.
The SouthaFndown u the vessel that,
In the fan Of 1917. aghted q German
U.boat rissed up like q sailing ship.
Although I liked visiting the forsim
ports, I got tirsd oe the southsrndown
after Q while and At the end Of Q voy.
age which landed NO In New York I
decided to gst into the United States
aavy. Aftsr laying around for Q week
q two ! sn1isted and was assigned to
0oty - secood-clA0 Areman.
People have said thsy thought I was
pesety small b b Q fireman; they
Asvs he idsa tAAt frsmsn must bs BIZ
nm Wen. I an 8 fest ~ inches IN
AAgAk aAd wAsn was sixteen was
~ - tan - ! an now and WEIGHED
~ poundA I was Q whole lot husk.
~ thsn, TOO. 6ne tAat W. bseors my
m6o01eeiea b kultU in German psis-
% eanpa and Me thsfs q not sactiy
fatt0ins-oot exActiy. Do not Now
w Il 4. but II you w1n 1oties he
naU Arsn0-ths lads with tie red
szapss afound thsir lsft shouldsrs-
you WIN md that almost al Of them
eFs maii men But they srs . husky
lot
= NeN. in the navy. they always haze
Q newcomer until be shows that hs
can take care Of himself. and ! got
mine very soon after ] went into On.
Gle Sans service. I was washing my
clothes In . bucket on the forscastls
deck. and evesy garby (sailor) who
came along would give me or the
bucket Q hck. and spili one or the
both of ~. Each tms would move
TO some other place, bot I always
seemed 10 b In somsbody's way. n
nally ] saw Q marine coming. ! was
nowhere near him. but he hauled out
Of bis course to como up to me and
gave the bucket Q boot that ssnt II
twenty fest away. at the same time
handing me . elout on the ear that
Just about Knocked me down. Now,
did not sxactiy know what . marine
was. and this fellow Sad 70 many
stripes on his sleeves dat I thought
he must Be some sort Of oficse. % I
3ust stood By. Thsre was Q gold stripe
(eomninsioned ofncsr) on the bridge
and knew that u anything was
wrong he would cut IN, % kspt look.
ias up At him. but b. stayed whsrs hs
WnA looking on, and never saying Q
vW1 And ali the time the marine
~ slamming me about and telling
- to gst the hsll out Of there.
Finally aid to myself. "r1i sst
tA1s guy II It's the brig for q month"
Do ! planted him one In the kidneys
and another h tho mouth. and he went
clsaa up Against the rail-. But hs
cane back at - strong. and We wses
at Il for some tina
But When II was over the sold styips