Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1901 — ON A WAR SHIP [ARTICLE]

ON A WAR SHIP

■ doubt if any class of men m in the world appreciate their holidays so fully as * the'Jackies, writes a retired naval officer. The life on board a warship is at best very confined and . necessarily strict and severe. There is the suggestion of a prison in the steel walls and parrow quarters and the regularity of the hours and meals. The life of the Jackies is made up almost entirely of work-with very little play. We learn to enjoy our Christmases the more when at last they come round. On Christmas, for once In the year at least, all rules, of which there are so many on board a battleship, are thrown to the winds and the Jackies are given the entire freedom of the ship. The order which js usually given them is that they can spend the day exactly as they like, and take any liberties they choose short of blowing ud the ship. It sometimes happens when the -ship is in some attractive port that the sailors prefer to spend the day on land, and they are of course always granted leave of absence. It is seldom, however, that the ship is so deserted that the cabins are not for the time converted into a veritable pandemonium. There is no formal celebration of the day ordered by the government. ,The sailors are simply given their liberty and they do the rest If a chaplain chances to be on board the day is opened with some simple religious services and there the jurisdiction of the captain may be said to end. , _ ’