Show CAN VERSUS CANNON Whisky More Deadly Than Big oun Said Un Commodore Foote lIi t N 1862 when Cern i mod ore POole with his gunl0i t fleet was on the roniuweo I had In charge the pro L vlslonlng oft one of-t of the boats and i l It was my duty to t see that neces sary II u 5ttPplie s were constantly on hand At that time it 1 was the general I I belief that the man behind the 1 gun could not be expected to go successfully Into a sea fight unless I cs he had plenty of j whisky to keep his courage up so twice a day every seaman In the service received a regular whisky ra tion furnished by the United States government On our boat wero 200 sailors who every morning at 11 and eery afternoon after-noon at five would line up on deck whllo the allowance was dealt out The liquor stood In a huge tin can and beside the can was a wooden frame In which were set 20 little measures called tots Each tot contained con-tained about threo swallows As the men filed slowly past the cans the tots were filled with a dipper and each man drank his share Ono noon our whisky gave out More was ordered but tho time came for the evening ration and still the expected supply had failed to arrive ar-rive This caused trouble The boys had been known to take short rations of beans anti baron without grumbling but to do without whisky was another thing Row over to tho flagship and borrow bor-row whisky enough for the evening ration was the order given me So wltfi our gieat tin can in the stern of our boat and four men to row I started for the commodores vessel the Black Hawk As we came alongside her in the dusk she loomed high above ou heads and glancing up we found ourselves directly under the muzzle of a cannon The loan of whisky 1 readily granted and soon our can wa filled and lowered carefully Info tho boat As I dropped to iry place an gave the order to pull away fron tho deck of the Black Hnv high oveihead came n voice moun man I looked up There gazing dom lit me stood the commander of th fleet Commodore Foote 1 saluted Young man what have you got Ir I that can Whisky I sir I thought so Then after pause Young man 1 I saluted again Look up here I lonicd What do you see A cannon sir What does that cannon mean Now this questioning made me de cidedly uncomfortable and I scarce knew how to reply But his eyes do mandcd an answer It means dsatt I and destruction sir I ventured He bent down over the guard ral tnd stretched out his fcreflnge toward the can In my boat as thong he wero taking aim at It while with the other he pointed to the cannon mouth directly over my head Youn man this cannon here does meal death and destruction It discharges a shot thnt weighs 64 pounds Ye i jou in that can of whisky there are carrying more death and dr structlon to our own soldier boy than this big gun will over carry t < anybody I waited Thats all said lb < commodore remember it I saluted again and we rowe < awny But I remeiubeicd It was only n boy then but many a tim In the years that followed I rcmeni bored the true words our commodon I spoke that day |