Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 227, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1917 — Page 2

What the Boys from Our farms Are Ooing in Their Uncle Sam's Navy

By HENRY REUTERDAHL, Lleutenant, U. Philadelphia Public Ledger. «AYS I to Bill, ‘Here she blows!’ and before I could . finish, the torpedo exploded and the Rockingham was done for. Winged, we lay there with the sea surging in and filling up the insides of the ship. - “We didn’t shove off, the ship did the shoving and left us floundering in the boats, me nursing a skun knee from sliding down a boat fall. We were In two boatloads, white and Hawallans, and us sailors all gathered in one. “Say, it was a long way from home and mother, and some of us kids just new to the game and never before on salt water, and sort of lonesome, with wet sea rocking up and down and at us. I come from a farm Ir/Wisconsin. “The chief gunner’s mate in command was some bird; he said we behaved like real ‘gobs,’ but I was seasick to my tummy, though I didn’t let oh. We were pulling like the devil. It was a sort of rough, but the C. P. O. kept us at the oars as if we were training for a boat race. All the while we kept our peepers plumb on the horizon, hoping to pick up a smudge of smoke somewhere. The rubber-neck wagon had nothing on us. “But it was getting more and more lonely and awful wet. I remembered the old wheeze, ‘ls the moon coming up, too?’ And while I was sitting there, pulling on the oar with one hand and shoving a ship biscuit in my face with the other, I couldn’t help thinking that at last the Germans got the Rockingham, having two years ago tried to torpedo her. I couldn’t help thinking how the ship’s lamp trimmer told me that In the middle of the night the foremast crashed down and as the ship stopped the skipper came out of his room trailing his pajamas and bawling out everybody, not knowing what happened. Anyway, they all had to take to the boats, and after paddling around all night and waiting for help they found the old ship still afloat at daylight, so they climbed on board again and got back to port. “Makin’ out smoke, we headed toward it, and in a litle while up lumbers a steamer above the horizon, us hoisting the colors on an oar. She looked like a square-head tramp. Finally she changes her course and picks us up. And, believe me, those Scandinavian guys were the real stuff, and gave us lots to eat. and we cheered up some when we heard that she was bound for the U. S. A, “But you should see us land, dressed up in all kinds of sea rigs borrowed from the tramp’s slop chest, us looking like going to a masquerade. Hitting the beach, some high-ups get us all together and we take passage for the fleet at Base Nq. , and get back again to our old home. “And, say, weren’t we the real heroes when we came over the gangway? I guess yes—like a circus parade swaggering up Main street, with the rest of the rubes looking on wild-eyed. We had seen war all right, add right in the eye, too. That’s what I wrote mother.” This was "the kid’s story. Shift the scene to the dreadnaught down at the base —these youngsters talking it all over among themselves, touching up

their yarn here and there and putting on the final varnish in the lettenTtothe folks at home, making the censor work overtime reading the dope. But chewing it over among themselves, the lads suddenly discovered that they bad been cheated. So they organized a delegation to wait on the gunnery officer of the ship. In the eyes of the young bluejackets who had just come in and are new to the game, the gunnery officer stacks up highest, for he is in charge of the shooting irons of the dreadnaught and is the whole thing—like the angels rolled into one, and enameled at that. With the kids he has the muzzle velocity of a 15-inch gun, and to the youngsters the skipper, in comparison, is just a myth some invisible power in-goldlace. Now, the training given is most Intensive in character; each man is made to specialize as far as possible, and every effort is made to perfect each member of the crew in the work to which he is assigned. The most likely youngsters, even those who have never seen anything larger than a 12bore shotgun, are assigned arbitrarily, to start with, as gun pointers and gun captains; the hefty, strong, well-built lads are made shellmen and loaders; men xis quick minds are” assigned as sight-setters and telephone operators; and these men are trained, trained, trained, and instructed, cautioned. Always drilled together, they are made to feel that if any one of them falls down in his particular job, the work of the others is spoiled. It is all teamwork, like on the diamond. So this gang laid aft and waited on the gunnery officer and presented their case thus wise: “Of course, mister, we are going to be the next fellows in the gun crew to go abroad, ain’t we?” “Certainly not; you had your trip; you have just come back.” “No, sir, we didn’t just come back; we never got there. You know when we left you said we were going to England, and we never saw England at' all. We ain’t going back home and have all the fellows guy us and say that we didn’t finish the job and that the U-boat ditched us.” They went back all right.

Here you have a sample of the mettle of these youngsters, some barely a month in the outfit, but getting the punch and absorbing the spirit of the service, the willingness to do the job, the desire to play the game. It is now 7 tolerably well known that picked men from our battleship fleet, have been sent to man the guns of the armed American merchant vessels that go abroad. This started first several months ago and a gun crew and their officer in command would make a round trip, over and back across the ocean and then return to their ship. You know how well these men have done their duty, and truthfully their exploits have been reported in the public press. But in hunting the U-boat little has been said about the long, untiring watches and t£e ceaseless vigil that these men must keep while crossing the sea, and particularly when nearing the danger zone. Ami these calls from the fleet have beem’ko great that raw recruits have been specially trained to man the comparatively small-caliber guns which our merchant vessels carry. Intensive training has bqen the order of the the fleet is full of bully stories of how these young and comparatively inexperienced men have taken to the game. , • There is such a thing as being gunshy, and even old-time men might an-

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

ticlpate things before firing. A Tlraft of men came on board a dreadnaught the other day. Though willing, they had only a mere idea of naval disclpline ; they had only been nt the training station for a few weeks. They didn’t ask who the “topside guy was walking up and down the deck with an opera glass under his arm dolpg nd work.” They knew that he was the officer of the deck. But in man-o’-war terms, they were just green. The first thing was to show them a gnn3lhe”secohil, which was the business end of the gun, and where the gun was loaded. And in the doing the loading machine was introduced, a contrivance which simulates the breech of a gun, in which the bluejacket lad is taught to pump in projectiles and powder at the rate of 15 a minute. Then sub-caliber work, which means that a small gun clamped on the big one is fired at a small target close aboard. With all hands properly keyed up and full of pep and hope, there was the first target practice. Not one of the rookies had ever heard anything bigger go off than a Fourth of July firecracker. Three gun crews were to fire at the target in what is known as short-range practice, which consists of firing at a mark not very large and at moderate distance. The doors of each gun compartment were closed, so that each gun was comparatively isolated from the other and from communication with the entire ship except by telephone or voice tube. Several runs were made across the course; ranges were taken down; the sight-setter set his sights, and outside of actually firing the pieces it was the first touch in the test.

One of the precautionary measures which is always taken in target practice is that after a round is fired the first loader looks through the bore of the gun to see that there are no unburned powder grains or parts of the powder bag or any smoke or flame left in the gun. An automatic air-blast drives the gases out of the muzzle, thereby preventing premature explosion., Neither the shell nor the powder charge are put in the breech until this man sings out “bore cleftr.” But at this practice the wind was on the bow and drifted the smoke into the gun parts and the muzzle of the gun, taking It longer to clear the bore. The youngsters knew and had been told what flarebacks meant and that any premature explosion would send alTliftnds to kingdom come. The order “commence firing” had been given. Almost instantly the gun pointers found their range and had the cross-wires in the sights right on it. Number one gun fired right after number two. As the breech of numbeAwo was? thrown open some smoke and powder gases from number one were blown into the muzzle. The second loader, whose duty it was to examine the bore, took a good look through It, and. seeing that the bore was apparently filled with smoke, sang out: “Bore Jjot clear.” Now, the lad with tly&powder charge felt instinctively that something was wrong. Anyway, his routine was interfered with. In his arms he had the powder. He knew its potential energy. He knew the danger. So he threw himself flat on the deck and wrapped himself around bag just like an elephant wraps his trunk around a peanut. He had to shield it. He believed that the life of the ship depended upon him. With only a month’s training the boy had already the instincts of a man-o’-war’s man. He was willing to sacrifice his life to save the ship, and he did it upon his own responsibility, without anybody’s say-so. He had already learned initiative.

Paris Presents Various Designs

New York,—This is a vastly exciting time in the fashion zone. It Is not alone exciting because women want new .clothes for a new season, but for the more important reason that commerce in this country is entirely entangled in the industry of elothes. A question as to what will be worn is supposed to concern Itself with woman’s vanity. Never was there such a foolish conclusion. The question of what will be worp is . inextricably mixed up with aie~iwerisf TMTHiofis of industrial workers in this country, and Upon its judicious adjustment depend the bread and butter, the happiness and the ability to be free from nervous 'depression of thousands of men too old or too young to fight and thousands of women w’ho have not the leisure to offer their services to war relief. i It is a curious thing that the woman who wants to know, even through an assumed indifference, whether her coat and skirts are in fashion, should be so densely Ignorant of the vast ramifications of fashions into the innermost recesses of American life. No one laughs at fashions in Paris. No one takes them lightly. Every one regards them as a supreme branch of French industry that brings welfare to millions. Each artist takes his or her designs for new clothes under serious consideration, and the state accords them the merit or dtemerit that they deserve. * Now, what have these great designers done for America this season? That is the leading question among the shopkeepers, the dressmakers, the millions of woman workers in the industry of clothes, the mills, the manufacturers, the importers and the exporters. We know that the styles for the autumn have been settled, but the masses do not know what each designer has done and what each great fashion establishment has. sponsored. To begin with, Paul Polret has again opened his house, to show models. That interesting little sign that went up over his house on the Avenue d’Antin, w'hich was also placed on many other doors, saying that the place would, be closed until the end of the wat, has been taken down. France may have foreseen a long war, but her people felt that things would come to' a crisis before the fourth year broke. Waistline Below Normal. Polret is always important; therefore, what he shows is of interest. To begin with, he features the waistline which is dropped below the normal,

Here are two evening gowns that suggest the directoire. At the left is a dinner frock of pink silk and malines lace. The silk coat has a peplum that turns Into pockets, and there are lace sleeves. The skirt of lace hangs in ragged points at the ankles. At the right the gown is of pale lilac taffeta, embroidered on the lower sleeves_Jn pale green, yellow and pink. The bodice is finished with a loose band of colored beads and fastened with neck lace of purple velvet ribbon. .

In the Oriental manner. There is very little that would ever appeal to Poiret in the first and second empire fashions. He is strongly barbaric in what he does. He has a genius for fabrics. He knows the art of weaving and dyeing better than most artists in Paris do, and he has special places that work but his ideas. Therefore, he has been able to make frocks in the new kind of plush which will be very hard to get in this country, but which will be desired because it has been featured by a few of the great French dressmakers. The fabric is difficult to describe, because it owes everything to its manner of weaving. Poiret uses an unusual amount of black and white and brings back quantities of black and white jet lavishly arranged en frocks with a Slavic or Oriental tendency. His evening gowns feature the high line at the neck, which he has always sponsored. His wife, a beautiful woman who wore his clothes better than anyone else, always adopted the evening gown which showed only two or more

inches of the neck and dropped in a flexible line to a low belt. Poiret will never give up the skirt that suggests Turkish trousers. It is almost as much a symbol of his work as the flat, red rose that he used in his Martine house decorations. He does not object to the separate bodice of velvet that forms part of the evening gown, although he has watched a good many other dressmakers use it since he Invented it nearly half a dozen years ago. Lanvin Is Slavic. There have been so many things In common between Paul Poiret and Jeanne Lanvin for so many years that some dressmakers have Insisted that they are related or that the houses are commercially connected. The personalities of these two designers in France are as different as can be, even beyontUhe fact that oneis a woman and one is a man. Therefore, it Is not surprising that while Poiret clings to the sumptuous effects of an exotic past, Lanvin also continues to hammer upon the anvil of Slavic and Russian fashions. She has gone to Serbia and Roumania for inspiration and probably draws a color, a line or a suggestion from the Cossacks of central Russia. In direct contrast to these short, brilliant Slavic clothes, she has put out a most dignified evening gown. The skirt is quite long, but without a train, and the belt is nearly over the hipfine. The top part of the skirt has the tightness of the days of the Renaissance, and judging by the many things that Lanvin Is doing, as well as other French dressmaker's, it looks as though the loose blouse in any form will soon belong to a day that is done. , -This Is not startling news to the American woman, because the smartly dressed young women have been adopting the tight bodice and the long, tight sleeves in their summer clothes, even making them of gingham and especially of jersey cloth. Lanvin also exploits the large waistcoat in various materials, to be worn under a coat suit and to serve as ablouse or jerkin when the coat is removed. The hats she produces with these gowns are often small of brim. She clings to the Russian effect, but she has introduced a small edition of the Continental worn by Lafayette and Washington. Worth Continues Trains. Although several of the leading French designers have contributed to the demand for conservation of ma- ! terial by eliminating trains, Worth

continues to use these appendages to evening gowns. One would feel that Worth was not himself if he abolished rhinestones or trains, and it makes one feel quite safe that he has not done so. His bodices are not only covered with rhinestones, but glisten with cut jet in different colors. He uses dark blue and beige for the evening, built in satin and velvet. Like Poirqt, he uses the low waist* line, but no matter how heavy his skirts, the bodices are transparent, which is not in sympathy with Poiret at aIL He tries out a bit of first Emplrt here and there, and he has taken up that wonderful hydrangea blue that Callot made so famous the summer be fore the war. (Copyright, 1917, by the McClure Newspw ' o per Syndicate.) -* An inventor living at Troy, N. ¥, has patented a laundry machine tha irons an entire skirt over a conlca roller at a single operation.

WOMAN SIGK' r TWOJEARS Could Do No Work. Now Strong as a Man. Chicago. Hl.-“For about two years suffered from a female trouble so 1 ——was unable to walk or do any of my own work. I read about Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound in the newspapers and determined to try it. It brought almost immediate relief. My weakness has entirely disappeared and I never had better health. I weigh 165 pounds and am as strong as a man. I think money is well spent which purchases Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound.’’—Mrs. Jos. 0 Bryan, 1755 Newport Ave., Chicago, 111. The success of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, made from roots ana herbs, is unparalleled. It may be used with perfect confidence by women who suffer from displacements, inflammation, ulceration, irregularities, periodic pains, backache, bearing-down feeling, flatulency, indigestion, dizziness, and nervous prostration. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is the standard remedy for female ills.

The Program. “What is the first step to take to have a, good blow-out?’’ “Why, to raise the wind.”

PAIN? NOT A BIT I LIFT YOUR CORNS OR CALLUSES OFF No humbug! Apply few drops then Just lift them away with fingers.

Thl,s new drug is an ether compound discovered by a Cincinnati chemist. It Is called freezone, and can ?_ now be obtained in tiny bottles as here shown at very little cost from any drug store. Just ask for freezone. Apply a drop or two directly upon a ten'der corn or callus and instantly the soreness disappears. Shortly you will find the corn or callus so loose that you can lift it off, root Sand all, with the fingers. Not a twinge of pain, soreness or irritation; not even the slightest smarting, either when applying freezone or afterwards. This drug doesn’t eat up the corn or callus, but shrivels them so they loosen and come right out. It is no humbug! It works like a charm. For a few cents you can get rid of every hard corn, soft corn or corn between the toes, as well as painful calluses on bottom of your feet. It never disappoints and never burns, bites or inflames. If your druggist hasn’t any freezone yet, tell him to get a little bottle for you from his wholesale house. —adv.

The Only Way.

Food Administrator Hoover said in Washington, during the filibuster against the food control bill: “We must control food, or flour will rise to S2O a barrel and meat to fifty cents a pound. “Why, look at prices already! “I said to a haggard family man the other day: “ ‘See here, Jones, you’ll ruin your health if you work all day on your books In the city and then go out and do night work on other men’s books all the evening. My boy, you’re burning the candle at both ends.’ •“I got to, Mr. Hoover,’ said Jones. It’s the only way to make both ends meet.’ ” —Philadelphia Bulletin.

The Cause of the Commotion.

“What’s the trouble up there in front?” asked the cook of a rapid restaurant, addressing one of the waitresses. “Aw, Heloise said that Claudine wasn’t any better than she ought to be,” was the reply. “And Claudine says she is, too, and if anybody thinks different she’ll make ’em prove it. That’s how the customer got hit with the ketchup bottle.” —Kansas City Star. Political clubs are used chiefly to put opposing candidates out of business. Only a fool cat will waste time looking at a king when there Is a mouse In sight.

I’m helping to save white bread by eating I more post Toasties I l WHAT ARB / you / DOING? / *»* p /lill