Evening star., 1936-08-02
NV R0BERT CRAWFORD.

"HE call of the sea comes every
now and then with an irresiSt-
ible urge to those who have
Il felt the lure of the great deep
and the salty spray in their nostrils.
If you have ever loafed along the
waterfront up in Gloucester and East
Gloucester. and got into the good
eraces of an old retired salt and
watched him as he looks with longing
eyes at the departure of line OF
fishing smacks. you will know that 1t
is not altogether the salt spray in
his eyes that causes the tears to roll
down his cheeks-it's just a nostalgia
that cannot be described.
Since the sailor President and dis
tinguished skipper. Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, when little boy sat on the
string piece of his Grandfather Del
amos stone wharf at Fairhaven, Mass.
and listened to stories of the sailing
vessels like those in which his mothers
family made their trips to China, ships
have had a strange fascination for
him; the old sailing vessels even in his
childhood seemed to have romance in
every spar and he could feel the wind
whistling through the rigging like the
music of an aeolian harp. With an
Unborn love of the sea which came
from generations of seafaring ances-
tors. every now and then the PreSi-
dent has to let go and follow the urge.
In his preface for AShley'S. Whale
Ships of New Bedford" Mr.. Roosevelt
writes: With a budding historical
sense. I rummaged in the attic"-of
his grandfather's house and there
found a wealth of sea lore that whet-
ted his appetite for more, and it must
have been about that time that he
rear Admiral Mahan'S Influence Of
Sea Power Upon History" 1t is Of this
book that his mother says. He read
Mahan until he fairly knew it by
heart" Then came John Paul Jones,
Perry. Decatur and Farragut in turn.
and it was some time later when at
Harvard that he began to assemble
the collection of books on naval his
tory. which has grown to several thou
sand volumes-perhaps one of the
best private libraries on the subject.
The President Took
The Wheel in Rough Seas.
The President laid rough sailing
course for his vacation just ended,
and out-maneuvered his crew when
It got too rough, for he took the wheel
himself. He must be getting in trim
for his campaign this Fall Or maybe
when he pays his call on Lord Tweeds-
muir, the Governor General of Can
ada. they will swap sea yarns. The
governor also knows quite a bit about
the sea, for as John Buchan he sailed
boat with the best in Scotland.
The President
PAYS q Call.
The Department of State has not
been consulted. but this must be the
first time President of the United
States has visited a Governor General
on Canadian soil. There has been an
unwritten law that the Executive of
this country must not set foot on for
eign soil; this opinion has not how
ever been observed for some years as
several of the Chief Executives-per-
hapS beginning with the late Theodore
Roosevelt-have paid visits of cere-
mony to other countries. Now that
Mr. Roosevelt has broken the ice. how
neighborly it would be for Edward
VIII to come over. He knows this
country so well.
The United States a Second
Hcme to Canada's Premier.
The present premier of Canada
must feel that the United States is
almost second home as he has spent
so much time here. Premier King
was not only a student at Harvard
University at one time but was
protege of DR.. Charles Eliot AT Har-
ward he was elected fellow in politi-
cal science and awarded a travelling
fellowship which enabled him to study
economic and social conditions in
Britain and other European coun-
tries. Mr.. King also spent some time
at Hull House. Chicago. doing social
work under the guidance of the late
Jane Addams.
MIR. Adams the Sport and Wit
OF the Hoover Regime.
A yachting fan who recently saw
Mr.. Charles Francis Adams, sometime
Secretary of Navy in the Hoover cabi-
net. and far and away the sport and
wit OF that administration, said he
looked in splendid sailing trim and
seemed to enjoy every moment of the