Evening Star Newspaper, March 26, 1898, Page 17

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, MARCH ! 26, 1898-24 PAGES. 17 BATTLE SHIP IN ACTIO: READY FOR THE FIGHT A Modern Battle Ship, With Decks Cleared for Action. A MAMMOTH NAVIGABLE FORTRESS Graphic Description of the Trans- formation on the lowa. MANY STIRRING SCENES Written for The Evening Star. HE BATTLE SHIP in a is not an untried factor in modern warfare. We know something of its disastrous powers in the hands of Chi- 3 by mpered ammu- nition and other con- sequences of official peculation. But just what to expect of a strictly modern bat- er Europeans or efficient Americans nething too momentous to predict. A modern battle ship is the most typical ion of all the fruits of present and the man that can utilize suc- all the powers placed there at h command will be able to deal such ble as cniy the most vivid imagination can be xin Awed as we are by na- re's working in the evidence of a thunder m, still the werst fury of lightning 1s jest beside the individual force of some of the guns carried by a modern baitle ship. As the most formidable example of our commissioned battle ships, let us see how we have prepared the Iowa to give and take, and try to follow in part what might reasonably be expected of her in action. The Battle Ship Iowa. Clothed in her peacetime dress of white Paint, one scarcely imagines her a massive Steel structure of something over 12,000 she seem to rest upon and, clothed in ‘her wartime ghosily gray. she would be even e. But wait till she is seen to pped sea that es her smaller neighbors rock, and then her ponderous mighi is realized.| Think of the force within that must be generated to make her move along against wind and tde at the rate of sixteen knots an hour, and then try, if possible that would fall upon the craft so unlucky as to lie acruss her rushing course. The lowa is really a navigable fortres 360 fee: Jong. a trifle over 72 feet wide, and, omitting her smok+ stacks and bridge: 50 feet tall from her keel up to the top of her superstructure amidships. Laden for sea, half of this body lies below the water line. That she may be comparatively in- tive to moderate injury below water, she has a doubie or inner bottom reaching frcm the keel up to a short distance below the load Hre; and the space between th two skins, so to speak, is minutely subd: Vided into numerous water-tight compart- ments to further localize injury. Her loins for a distance of quite two-thirds Ler tot: lergth, are girded by a broad band of heavy armor Tz fe ‘le, about equail above ard below the water line. Along TT side idships, for 185 feet, this belt is 14 inches thick, and proof against all but th heaviest of an enemy’s shell at very cios range The out b sz then tura inboard at a sharp angle and ter- te on the center-line, where they form the 1 bettes th the bie sults in harde invulnerable point to compa tons, so lightly doe the water; garb of t shelter the vital mechanisms of 12-inch guns. This formation re- @ massive hexagonal bulwark of front to shot or shell from a: . Upon this six-sided’ wall fs laid th ile portion of the protective deck, 2% nes thick, which houses over the vital raft. Helow this deck, feet of sheltering coal, so wisely is her sup- ply of 1,500 tons distributed, and beneath the water, lie her engines, her boilers and her 37) tons of ammunition that await the coming of a foeman worthy of that powder and hardened steel. From the lower edge of the armor belt inboard, the protective deck, slightly thicker, runs forward and aft to the ends, and forms, at the bow, the spine for the ponderous ram which lies just far enongk below the water-line to gore an enemy where she is weakest. For a distance of ninety feet amidship and to a height of se feet above thi heavy water-line belt th 8 are of ar- si mor five inches thick; and it is from be- |, hind the protecting shelter of this steel wall that the two rdo tubes on each side are worked. The ends of this thinner belt also turn siantingly inboard and athwartships, and terminate likewise against the barbettes for the 12-inch guns. Ferward and abaft this lighter armor the sides are reinforced by a broad band of corn-pith cellul which will swell and automatically plug all shot holes admitting ater. A Vert Labyrinth. The whole intertor of the craft is cut up Into something like 140 water-tight com- partments, and powerful pumps of grea capacity stand ready to -hold {n check the consequences of accident or leak. Wood- work is grudgingly allowed, ground cork and white paint standing instead for ap- pearances and healthfulness, and such as is present, from the seaman’s ditty box to the admiral's easy chair, 1s fireproofed by @ process of tried efficiency. The fewest possible passages are cut through the pro- teetive deck; and, with the exceptions of the afr passages to the engine rooms and fire rooms and the uptakes for the smoke- stacks, are covered by heavy armored grat- irgs to keep out shell. The rest of the open- ings are elesed with solid coverings as heavy as the neighboring deck. Heavy water-tight doors seal the passages between neighboring compartments and offer a rea- sonable impediment to unnecessary inter- communication. Electric alarms guard egainst fire and the dangerous admission of water: and a steam steering gear, way aft and below the protective deck, controls the ship safe from the reach of a foeman’s ot. The Battery. ‘The main battery consists of four twelve- inch and eight eight-inch rifles of great Dower. A secondary force of six four-inch and twenty six-pounder rapid-fire guns will nese, even hampered | tle ship in the hands | to picture the blow | » is | n support for the ponderous bar- | 1 st-el, which presents a well-nigh | of the bow, the stern, or either of the | y ling in case of a gvard against the approach of torpedo craft and sweep destructively the exposed posi ticns and lightly armored parts of an ene- my's deck. ‘The twelve-inch guns arc mounted in two massive turrets of fifteen-inch Harvey!zed armor—the defensive equivalent of quite twenty inches of normal nickel steel. These t turrets revolve within barbettes or gre columns of like material and thickness ris- ing bodily from the protective deck belo hin this great tube of hardened steel the foundations for the turrets and the mechanisms vital to the management of the turrets and the guns, and up through this sturdy passage are brought the powder and shet trom the sheltered folds of the magazines and shell way below rooms Mammoth of these guns s it rests upon its carriage, has a total iength of thirty-eight feet, and a greatest diameter of nearly four feet at the breech eight twisting grooves, that bite into t copper band on the base of the projectii nu give them that rapid rotation so e tial to accuracy of fight and high power of penetration. With an impulse of 430 pounds of povvder, the S50-pound shot of hardened steel of de: with an initial velocity 00 fe ond, the equivalent of som thing over 1,400 miles an hour. With the greatest eleva 3s ted by the turr ports, i. e., 15 degrees, exch of these gu has a range of at least five and one-half miles. Hombarding a city from that d | tance, the shc v tion in a seant t whole seconds in : that 5 guns could s right through twent steel, and a mile and a bh kind of shot would go unde nineteen inches of the rial. The that shot as it leav lent to the force rei twice the total wei when heavy laden. The S-inch guns ach speeding on 11s mission of inches of solid away the same ormed through © Kind of mate- five and are pr Inches of hardened hot with for eted by metal, and eight ile aw three-pound shot in a rinv’ te bore their way througn seven inc Steel a thousand while the | twenty six-pounders cot in a mur derous hail of explos into open ports and upon the un: a fo The torpedoes, each with its deadly bur- den of 15 pounds of that threefold power- ful guncotton, could tear their way through the toughest fabrications of steel, and make the mightiest battle ship bow in submis- s.on. “These are some of the powers placed at the captain’s command. Decks Cleared for Action. Take your watch in hand, and at the sharp, shrili call of the boatswain’s whistle all hands are called to clear ship for ac- tion, and scarcely before the iast note ha | drifted off on the breeze every man Is | his post and hard at work, except the pri | rmored portions of at oners stretening lazily as they are turned our from the brig. Yeu who have know the craft in times of peace and dress parade, watch her now. Down come all the shining railings and | poushed hatchway canopy frames, and over | the open ways in the wake of the guns j are fastened battle plates of heavy steel. All unnecessary ventilators are stored be- low, and their deck hoies filled with metal dises. Great anchor cranes are turned down out of the way of shot and shell, and the decks left bare, but for the flash plates that take the first blast of the great guns. The anchors are freed from their cabl snd the chain, if not stowed below, is wrapped for protection abcut unurmored | part Bort davits are disatta and stowed either down along the s or bodily re- moved beyond the sweep of the guns. All awnings are souked with water, and either | placed safely below to guard the ammuni- | tion supply from splinters and sparks, or | swathed about such of the bouts as are not | filled with water or set adrift | Overboard ge the turpentine and other }inflammable stores, and all chests, furni- | ture and other movable woodwork calcu- llated to shed spliniers and cause injury are sent below or stowed where they may | do no damage. Down below the protective | deck are sent the compasses, chronometers and other delicate | gation, and the public funds are placed in such shape that they may be either eas- ily removed or destroyed, as the case may |reed. All needless steam supply is cut off | above the protective deck to prevent scald- cident, and hose are cou- | pled to fire mains and the pumps are set | pulsing for instant use. Into the tubes | the torpedoes are put with their war heads en, and by the magazines the men stand ready to pass up the ammunition. Down in the sick bay or upon the broad expanse of the ward room table the surgeons have spread their instruments and dressings, and a certain number of cots and lifts have been prepared for handling the wounded. The signal becks are clothed in their welghted covers aud are ready to be cast overboard when ordered. Ready for the Fight. Look at the ship now. In just one hour and fifty minutes she has been stripped to the waist, so to speak, and all her bulky lines stand out in bare relief, doubly em- 'phasizing the might of her murderous guns, now peering streight out with an moinous absence of tompkins. At the masi- head, in unspoiled beauty, flutters the I proua folds of Old Glory. A few short taps of the drum, and ail hands hasten to their several stations— most of the men bared to the waist for the sake of that freedom of movement de- ianded by nervous impatience. The chap- lain, who has really endeared himeelf to the crew by a feeling of manly fellowship, goes about quietly, taking first from one and then another of the men a little packet, which is to be sent to the loved ones at home “in case anything should happen,” or exchanging a few words of kindly help- ful cheer to those that seck his greeting. In a few minutes he will go below to help the doctors and to smooth the chilling brow of sume poor shipmate. With the delivery of the last report of readiness and with one wide, unrestricted glance at those smoking specks just com- ing above the horizon the captain steps into the conning tower and behind the sheltering folds of its ten-inch steel, glances at the tell-tale dials upon its rounded walls, and reads the messages that come up to him from every part of that great craft beneath him through the ar- mored tube that leads below to the protec- tive deck. With bared arms and naked feet, tne guns’ crews cluster about the larser Pleces, waiting, with beating hearts, for the moment that will bring the enemy in range and give to their tingling nerves the self-forgetfulness of activity and din; while the crews of the lighter pieces are taustered handily behind the nearest pro- tection till closer quarters may call them The bore is rifled with forty- | 7 nough to { instruments of navi- | into service and the open exposure of the tops and superstructure. About each gun a number of rounds ot ammunition has been gathered, and quick- footed bearers bring the fixed ammunition from the passages to the stations of the waiting guns. Silence reigns on all sides, save for the quiet commands of the di- sional officer, the rush of the water without, the steady rumble of the driving engines and the pulsing sound of the run- ning pumps. Men at Their Posts. Up on their bridges, the men at the range finders keep them bearing on the approach- ing foe, whom we near at the rate of thirty krots an hour, and down in the conning tewer, the turrets and before the principal gun stations the dials register the distance of the coming ships. Way below the pro- tective deck men stand ready at the ammunition hoists, the shell whips and’ the and magi le, naked-footed io tubes the men burden fraught » lorpe ch th istible force. teady y fills the ears, and thi ‘oar of the air reeks hot smell of oil and escaping At ihe throttles stand the engi- ee and every journal and crank a watchful tunt. Shining piston rods, j long steel arms, and figgering levers fly back and forth, in and out with dazzling srced. The journals and bearings foam like the bits of champing horses. The air pimps pant 5 the floor swims with oil and v. ‘ed from the moy- ty for the thundering Ii rous engines one might alm sndants ghosts, their long through that stcaming mist y the ghastly glow of the electric uch are the conditions in each of gine rooms. In the Great Fire Rooms. | Forward, through a water-tight bulkhead closing the Goor behind us, we stand in one of the four great fire rooms. Above us | tower the cumbrous boilers and before us j Slare the glowing grates of the roaring | furnaces. In the half light of the globes the | firemen and stokers rush back and forth Lringing coal, tending vaives and wateh- | ine the pressure in the shivering gauge: With averted he panting breast biistered eyes, they goad those se | beds of flames, or throw into those | thicats the that must satis greed and Keep the boilers pulsing with a hty pressure. The alr, hot, dry and of degrees, is th dust and grime s it rushes i > flaming pits ba by the impulse of great blowe nd eager- |ly sucked upward by the draught of those great smokestacks towering a hundred feet oud of smoke and a thin am Way up at those ry of the torment ¥, shut down below the protective rant of the tide of battle, and of certain death in case of a blew from either torpedo or ram. With the first fiash and a momentary veil of smoke from the bow guns of the | enemy still quite two miles away, the bat- tle is: cpened, and the sharp cutting splash flies inboard through the open ports wre of the 4-inch guns, our own neh rifles belch a more telling response. R. G. SKERRETT. ——_- CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR NOTES The topic for consideration in the Chris- tian Endeavor meetings tomarrow evening is “God's Unfailing Promises.” Rey. F. A. Stier has just been re-elected superintendent of the Sunday school of Mt. Vernen Place M. E. Church South. The Y. P. S. C. 1. of Keller Memorial Lutheran Church has undertaken the con- duct cf a meeting the third Sunday tn eack month at the National Lutheran Home at Winthrop Heights. Under the auspices of the Woman's For- Mission Society of Union M. E. urch, Mrs. A. H. Eaton, president of the 3altimore Branch Woman's Foreign Mis- sicnary Society of the Methodist Church, gave a very flue address at a recent prayer meeting, resulting in bringing ten new mem! into the society. Mrs. Martin, distriet secretary, was also present. Garden Memorial Endeavor Society gives Prominence to social features of church work. The young people's society gave a 1 on March 11, and the junior society followed on the 18th with another, at which a magic lantern exhibition and pleasant gemes were enjoyed by the many children present. During the past year Vermont Avenue Baptist Church has baptized and added to its membership 101 persons, most of them young people; many have also joined the Endeavor Society. : Gi Mr. W. W. Everett of the Nashville '08 transportation comfnittee has been in Nashville this week, personally making ar- rangements for the comfort of the dele- gates who are going to the international convention from Washington next July. It is thought $40 will cover the entire cost of this trip. This week's Christian Endeavor World states that a) tithe-givers have been enrolled in the Tenth Legion. _ A In his latest quarterly report’ Rev. F. EB. Clark, president of the United Society of Christian Endeavor, has this to say re- garding the growth of the Christian En- dcavor movement during the’ last three months: “I am rejoiced to report a con- stant progress in numbers, and I believe also in the character and quality of the work accomplished. Not only in our own ‘country and in Great Britain, where the registration has been unusually large of late, but of other lands is this true. A new interest has been aroused in Paris. From Switzerland, too, good news comes, a strong society having been organized in Gene In Germany there are now sixty jan Endeavor societies, and the sec- y of the United Society of Germany writes most hopefully. From Gottburg, in Sweden, I hear of a society of 800 members, whose pastor is most enthusiastic. From India, Egypt and China also come good news of progress. Mexico soon proposes to have the largest young people’s gathering ever held within her borders. Our prison societies have received a genuine impetus from the Quiet* Hour. movement, -which has taken hold of the hearts of the prisoners in a wonderful way, no less than 238 of them in one prison having been enrolled among tKe comrades. The character and steadfastness of our floating Endeavor brethren have been again illustrated by the terrible disaster to the Maine. Coming nearer home, I have found a larger degree of interest than usual in the y_ local meetings which I have attended, and I have been impressed, especially in country districts, with the life and vigor of our Christian Endeavor Unions, which, on the whole, were never doing better work than today. Soe Timmy—‘Pop, if there’s a war, are you going?” Pop—“No, sir. Your mother has been ma man of the house for the past year.”— 'e. DIGNITY OF UNIFORM Uncle Sam’s Boys iv Blue Appreciate Its Meaning, 10 THE BEMTERMEN? OF THE SERVICE Opportunities for:Young Men in the Army or Navy. CHANCES OF PROMOTION ————————— Written for The Evening Star. STURDY, STRONG- hearted young Amer- ican might do many more unwise things than to “take on” in the United States ar- my or to “ship” in the United States na- vy. The time was— and not so very long ago—when enlist- ment in either of the American military outfits was a venture : of the last-resaurce sort at best. Our uniformed ranks on land and sea were filled with rough, reckless men—generous fellows and last-ditch fighters, but difficult to curb, impatient of discipline and contemptuous to a de- gree of better-fibered men not of their own ilk. It happened not very many years ago that a discontented American man-o’-war’s crew, on edge over a fan- cied wrong inflicted by an ensign upon a bluejacket, incontinently heaved all of the gun gear of the ship over the side into the sea and then took their dose of double irons as a whole ship's company, leaving the ship unworked. Not more than a decade ago it was no uncommon matter for an unled battalion of roystering fron- tier scldiers of the United States regular army to repair to the burg contiguous to the garrison and seek diversion in hoot- irg up the town,” conventional bad-man fashion. These things happen no more in the American army ani navy. There has been a strer gher spirit in both outfi t ten years. Personal longer cor ntrol are no ymical terms with sidered sy: emasculation m our enlisted ranks. The epoch of the bad man in uniform has pass: ed. The American priv: will fight as hardily and fought the soldiers unc American blucjacket of today wil! bid brazen a defiance to the roaring mouth projectile-spitting guns mounted on fore! men-of-war as did the men forward whc conduct in action made the Jones and of Decatur to sparkle. enlisted men in both land and se But the forces ef this country now comprehend what the “dignity of uniform” means. The Ameri- can army and navy, as a result of t bet- ter comprehension on the part of the en- listed men, are now notable among all the land and outfits of the worid for their lack of nism. rufli: ning a Commission, A level-headed, fairly wellecducated young man of modcrateiy correct habits (which does not mean that he should belong to the tribe of the long-eared and the truly good) has an admirable chance to make some- thing of himself in the United States army. It is no such a colossal achievement now- adays fer clever young enlfsted men American army to acquire their Presi commission within three ér four ye ter they “take on,’’ if they behave Ives—and, now that the frontier has forced into the Pacific, and the Ix ve been practically rounded up, the man who wears a commissioned officer's fcrm in the army of [ngle Sam has a lif» of comfort (even luxury) and honor. Of course, commissions frym the tanks are on- ly for the fortunate—not, as Is quite com- monly believed, for the “best backed’ by any means. There is many a detour craggy roads for the young man who ters the army as a private with the purpose in his heart to win a commission; yet the men who have traveled those roads suc- cessfully look back after the journey is over ard marvel at the simplicity of it all. The plodder “arrives” in the army just as he does in civilian life. Witnin the past five years many -a young man who would be esteemed unusually well endowed men- tally and phy y in private Ife un- dertaken the ggle for a commission from the ranks of the American army, and heen beaten in the climb by men not nearly so well equipped by nature, but more amen= able to discipline, more studious, more com- mon-sensible—plodders, in brief. About one really brilliant enlisted soldier in five who go in for commis succeeds in “land- ing” his sword—for the brilliant commis sions-seekers are too often deficient inp: tience, industry and correctness of habits agd many of them have a disastrous habit of going to pieces in the stretch. Almost Succeeded, For example: Four years ago there was a young heavy artilleryman sta- on ticned at the Presidio of San Fran- cisco whe passed his examination for commission at the top of the enlisted men’s class. His soldierly appearance, mil tary knowledge and general breadth of In- fcrmation won the admiration of the exam- ining officers at Fort Leavenworth. When he returned from his examination at that pest to his duties as sergeant at the Pre- sidio, he wore the candidate's gold stripe on his blouse sleeve, and was due to get his commission as soon as a vacancy made room for him—the top enlisted man on the waiting list. Then the. young man em- barked on a gigantic spree in San Francis- co. W he turned up at the Presidio, a week over his leave, he not only suffered the humiliation of having his exndidate’s gold stripe cut from his sleeve, Which meant that there would never be a commission in the United States army for him, but he lost his sergeant’s chevrons as weil. On the very day that this thing happened to him the newpaper dispatches ennounced that his brother, a cadet at Annapolis, had grad- uated from the Naval Academy with the very first honors. The “busted” young ar- ryman was permitted to leave the , & figure of remorseful youth. It is no simple matter nowadays to get into the army. The time has gone by when the man who has made a sp2ctacular fizzle of civilian life could step into a re- cruiting office, in a tremor from the effe>ts of his last debauch, and hop into the uni- form of a United States soldier. About one in twenty-five applicants is now accepted. About half of the applicants are turned dewn by the recruiting! officers for a lack of a good account of, themselves previous to their application for enlistment. ‘The remainder of the rejected men fall down on their physical exaninations. It is no uncommon matter to gee men of apparentiy superb constitutions and huge strength re- jected out of hand at cnce by examining surgeons attached to the retruiting offices —and these men ascertain for the first time that there is something wrcng with their hearts or their Jungs or some other censtituent portions of, their physical make- up. Will Get Thére. Once in the uniform,ef an American sol- dier, the recruit who attends strictly to his own business, and, above gil, “keeps still” and throttles any ratural tendency to gar- rulousness, is the recruit worth watching— for he will get there. Officers in the United States army have a habit of observing re- cruits out of the tail of the eye. Officers don’t take fancies to talkative soldiers, and especially talkative recruits—for one of the latter is liable to develop into that un- speakable nuisaace, the “barrack lawyer.” Quiet, self-contained men are invariably selected for the rank of non-commissioned officers im our army. No matter how quick a clever recruit may be to catch on to the intricate business of soldiering, if he is a talker of the continuous-performance va- rety there Is a hopeless wait for the chev- rons in store for him. The old soldiers make a practice cf baiting the recruits, of endesvoring to draw them out, of at- tempting to lead them into the relation of their past histories arid of attempting to make idiots of them in general. The old soldiers sit on the edges‘of their bunks and exchange grirs when they get a recruit under way, but they have a whole lot more respect for the recruit who simply All Free pee Six Gold-Trimmed Glasses One Silver-Mounted Tray The Glasses Are thin, etched, gold- trimmed glasses of the finest quality on the market. The Tray Is a convenient, ha some, novel affair, made to fit the glasses. The bottom is of fire decorated glass—ruby or blue, as you choose. The metal frame and handle are heavily ver-plated. To introduce........... Schlitz Bottled Beer into more homes in this city, we offer this handsome gift. We will send it free with the third case of Schlitz Beer delivered to any family after March 18. The gift is a hand- some one—rich and costly. We do not do things by halves. Our object is this: We want you to try Schlitz Beer. We want to induce you to try it now. It isa pure beer, such as you want at your home. It is a better beer than any one else can offer you. Those first three cases will make you a permanent customer. We can afford such a gift to accom- plish that. The Beer that made Milwaukee famous. You can order the three cases at once, or one case at a time, as you wish. We de- liver beer free. It is des We offer but one s Prices: ‘ttoa Schlitz Beer, bottled at Washington Branch, $1.25 per case of 24 pint botiles. Schlitz Export Beer bottled at Brewery, $1.50 per case of 24 pint bottles. amily. able to order at once, for we have only a limited number of set Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co., Telephone No. 480. Washington Branch, 615 D Street, S. W. smiles in their teeth when they essay to make a monkey of him in this fashion. Not n nis Step. The step from private in the re rank to “lance-jack,” or corporal in waiting for acaney is no yery long one in the rmy, and the soldier who | gets a corporalship within a year after his exlistment is not considered to have been » beneficiary of an unusual amcunt of k. When 2 man gets the chevions oa his sleeves in our army he occupies a pos: tion of more dignity than is commonly supposed. He trusted by the oificer The men have to obey him as implicitly y obey the orders of the commissioned ‘ers. True, the difference between the of a private and the pay of a cor- peral is immaterial, but then, the cante does not get so much of the non-commis- sioned office us it does of the pri- money. When the corporal takes jump from two stripes chevrons, the amount of money he has his disposal over and above all expenses month is a fairly respectable sum pocket including unused clothing A sergeant in the United States is a _goud deal of a man, too, and for work Of a purely non-commissioned money. army he draws his p: overseeing nature officers in our re superintendents of fatigue dut nd no man who wears the chevrons is required to perform any labor with his hand: ide from keeping his kit clean. For the non-commissioned officers who have no idea of striving for commis- sions there are all sorts of good enlisted men’s billets in the arm: ergeant aS no major, either post or regimental, soldiering duties to perform be ing the guard, and is generally adjutant or c master, © nanding officer. and Quarter- ordnance ser- me of It, with bunk fatigue,” “heavy sit- ting around,” while watching unchevroned men work, and, considering the amount of their perquisitcs—quarters for their fam- ilies, if they are married, fuel, a ration, ty good pay even for men cozily situated in civilan life. portunities in the Nav While it is within th2 range of the pos- sible for a young man who enlists in the army today to become major general com- manding the United States army in time, the same young man could never climb to the rank of a fle2t admiral should he ship in tho navy as a bluejacket, breaking out of a war should cat fication in the navy regulations bear upon mean forward. The 2ig! sition to which a man forward may aspire in our navy at the present time is th: “warrant officer’—gunner, boat: penter or sailmaker. rant officers is $1,800 a year. A officer lives aft among the com: officers in the junior grades, wears practi- cally the sam2 uniform as the commission- ed officers, apd is the recipient of the same amount of respect and obedier- enlisted men as the commissioned office: yet he is not invariably a happy man. Un- fortunately, the commissioned officers, who come into the navy not “through ihe hawse pipe,” but get thelr commissions through the Naval Acad>my ordeal, have an un- pleasaat nabit, many of them, of regarding the warrant officers as interlopers—as neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red her- ring. This is gradually passing away, but it still survives. In all other respects, the warrant officzr in the navy is in a pretty comfortable position, but he is out of the line of promotion, except in case of war— and in this respect the army is better than the ravy for the young American of today who wants to enlist in either ef th> outfits. The Better Outht. But in all other respects—the writer has been in both services—the navy is perhaps the better outfit of the two for th> young man who does not propose making uniform- wearing a life-long business. Naval sailors who, on account of misconduct, are barred from shore liberty for considerable periods while their ships ar? cruising often speak ecntemptuously of “this business of seeing the world through a deadlight’—but, all the.same, no man who puts in three years, the term of an enlistment, on the docks of an American man-of-war- is going to be any the worse for the experience, unless he is naturally pervers> ard a’ bit of a blackguard Into the bargain. If he has an aptitude for the absorption cf evil, he will probably leave the navy worse than he en- tered it; but if he is straigitforward, “on the level,” acquisitive—n a word, a natur- ally decent man—an enlistn.ent in the sea service ts bound to be of benefit to him in numerous ways—in the very wide amplifica- tion of his experience, andthe training of Eis body and mind in particular. Bluejackets are very much better paid than soldiers in our service. The young American of no sea experience must ship in the United States navy either as a lands- Tae oF Socal eee ee ae ciently youthful as an apprentice, or unless he fs = ‘skifled mechanic—plumber and fitter, coppersmith, blacksmith, ma- chinist, carpenter, or the master of any trade of use about a man-o'-war, in which case he ships at°once as an artisan and: It takes a pretty strong young man to stand the pace required of a coal passer— four hours on watch, shoveling coal in (he bunkers, twice a da en the pretty r of the * through boiler ¢ therefrom, cleaning station in general fcr the members of the en- gineer’s departnent, who hold rates. The coal T gets $22 a month. If he Is an industrious, qui fore the chief engineer gets his eye him, and when a vacancy occurs—and ¥ cancies are always occurring on men-o' war, n& to expirations of enlistments, trans —jumps him to the rate of a s ss fireman. A second-ciass fire- man 1s a furnace feeder—hot work that, too, down inf the low latitudes—and he gets $302 month. The next step for the mem- ber of the black gang is the rate of first- fireman, which calls for $35 a month. y during his second eruise docs a mem- ber of the engineer's depar:ment usually get a rating badge a& petty officer—oiler, water tender or machinist second class. These billets pay from $37 to $70 a month—the latter being the amount of monthly money drawn by chiet machinists, who are skill- ed mechanics. Pay of Enlisted Men. The landsman is paid $16 a month from the go-off. He must stand a hard word or so now and then from a gruff old bo’sun’s mate, be mighty spry on his feet and quick to pick up ship information, if he looks to a rate during his first cruise. When he gets into the line of promotion his Vancement is ustally rapid. He te become ordinary s man before he secures a “crow” rame for the cagle rating badge— he is rated in accordance with cial fitness. He can become a cox'un, third-class gunrer’s mate, a third-c quartermaster or third-class bo'sun’ If he a third-class mas- an, it is not long be- on ad- i a is made arms he is right in line of promo- ter- tion to the billet of chief master-at-arms, the highest enlisted man’s rate on a man- o’-war. The pay of first-class petty offi- cers—they all wear the bluejacket uniform —trave as high as $5 a month. The next step Is to the rate of chief petty oili- cer, and when a naval sailor gets this rat- ing he sheds his bluejacket uniform and Wears the natty brass-buttoned uniform of an “officer for'ar Chief petty otti- cers are paid from $0 to $70 a month, and they are the cocks of the walk among the enlisted men. Men who are clever clerks often ship in the navy as “write Writ- ers are petty officers, and the writer i in line for promotion to the rate of y: man. There are three yeomen aboard each ship—engineer’s yeoman, equipment yeo- man and paymaster’s yeoman—and they are paid $60 a month, besides holding con- siderable dignity of chief petty officers. ‘The young man who ships in the United States navy must “stand by” to endure plenty of harcering hardship aboard a cruising man-o'-war. It does not take the right sort of man very long to get used to the life.. True, there is no lolling lux- ury for the mano’-war’s man—even for the commissicned man-o’-war's man who lives aft in ward room or cabin—but life on @ man-o'-war even for three short years —and time passes very rapidly in the navy —puts strength and squareness in a man’s shoulders, determination in the set of his jaws, activity in his movements, fellow- feeling in his heart, and character all over him—if he is composed of the right stuff, and malleable, en he goes in. THE ORI AL ICHABOD CRANE. Tradition of the Vicinity of Sleepy Hollow. Harold Van Santvord in New York Times. I saw yesterday an original letter Jesse Merwin carried to New York in 1846, whither he had. gone “for the purpose of collecting money for the Methodist Episco- paf Church (in Kinderhook) and lecturing on temperance,” bearing this indorsement in the handwriting of Martin Van Buren: “This is to certify that I have known Jesse Merwin, esq., of Kinderhook - for about a third of a century, and believe him to be a man of honor and integrity; and thet he is the same person celebrated in the writings of Washington Irving under the character i. atone in his sage 3 oa VAN BUREN.” But additional proof is not needed to establish the close identity of Irving’s friend Merwin with the character of Icha- bod Crane, which Pierre M. Irving concedes writer was a boy he has heard from older residents of the village, wh reputation for veracity is unin , of Irving's sojourns here, of his tuiorstip in the Van Ness family, and of the strange influence that surrounded him when tt: d of Sleepy Hollow” was outlined in his mind. The writer be in error fn assuming that a py Hollow romance was written at Lindenwaid, (1 believe the manu- scnpi of the story was forwarded to New York by Irving from I ) Howey the strongest circumstantial well as by the positive testim: ble witnesses, the genesis of ihe all that gives it vital charm can be traced back to Irving's early ¢ in Kinderhook. An aged lady of t powers of memory, and who was quainted with all the facts of the few years befor sly »clations m Van Alstyne, as Irving himself confessed. THE LITTLE How to Amuse and Care for the Young Paticnts. From the Philadelphia Ledger. How to make happy the weary hours of her darlings who are ill is the problem which engages many a mother just now. So much depends on the nature of the ill- ness, and the patient’s condition from day to day, that no precise rules can be jaid down. Fortunately, children who have geod constitutions usually pass through the diseases of childhood hout any grave complications. Very ofteu the physician will say, there is really not mveh to be done, except to keep the cl warm ard happy, and guard the strong light or much use. Some of us can look back upon our turn of chickeupox, measies and the the list as a time when we rece undivided attentions of a devoizd mother; perchauce held court in her own room, and ate invalid fare from her daintiest chin, Even the fast tading memory of scme discomfort we experienced is made sweet with the recollection of the touch of the soft mother hand that brought com- fert to purning flesh or aching brows. To steh there will be no lack of inspiration as to what to do for their own little ones. There is nothing more vital then cheer- fulness. This the mother must ntain under all circumstances. A child that is il will naturally le restless and fretful. it is best to take this for granted. The gifted and ready story teller has a great uielG now, for the story told now cften pcesesses greater imterest than one read ficm a book. A rapid reader can edit as she reads, leaving out long words and adding litle explanations which make what is read fit the listener better. Noth- ing lessens petty ills so effectually as oc- tupying the mind with pleasani thoughts. Tears are often best suppianted by di- verting the mind with new ond happy ideas. Even the meal times may be made @ source of amusement. Wha 2 Ue patient may eat should the most attractive way. The stowy doily, and, whenever postible, @ flcwer or green leaf to grace !t, even the dishes used should be atiractive. One ht- Ue invalid derived endless pleasure from trying to guess what pretty cup weuid next hold his milk. A little girl will find comfort in having one of her dolls duty attired in robe de nuit to stay in bed with her. If the dis- eese is contagious, like scarlet fever, no playthings or books shouid be used in the sick rocm, except those you are willing to burn afterwards. Therefor2 pictures and all soris of paper toys will be of service. A. peir of scissors and a supply of wrap- ping paper will furnish paper dolls with- out stint. Every one knows how to fold a piece of paper and cut a paper doll. If something ready-made is desired tins sheets of paper dolls, animals and do! furniture are very pleasing. The cutting out of these affords great amusement. The animals and horses can have a little strip of paper pasted on the back, so they will stand up, and can be grouped on the bed, if the little patient is still under the cov- ers. 4 It ig not a light task to care for and renga a ee tgs il; the wise mo- J avai erself of every fa nity to secure much ae2ded — coe. Mrs. Snagsby treats her husband as she does her best china.” ~“How is that?” “Never lets the hired girl have anything to do with him."—Cleveland Plain Dealer. ta yes trom ‘THE MODERN CLEANER ‘WILL MOT WEAR OUT ANY GURFACE. ‘All Grocers.