Show antic dtta the th histo tan ian once upon a time there was a great republic which had money to burn and it decided to lo build a new navy it was a sacred task to be let only to the sacred bands of patriotism and in the spirit of we are the whole thing the contract was let and a commission was established for detecting putty in the blow holes of the armor plate but the builders bullied bull ded and the government paid its usual bonus for speed on the trial trip one of these vessels was a cruiser built with a design to ram another ironclad iron clad in any possible engagement one day she ahe ran aground was punctured by an oyster shell and filled with salt water another of these vessels was wag another cruiser and one night tied to a quiet dock in twenty tive feet of bilge water she sunk to the he mud bottom she she would have sunk deeper had the bottom been lower down and this great republic built two rams ram halt half submerged vessels with horns borne of steel with which to cripple the fleets of civilization the horns borns were all right but while meant for the ribs of an enemy making twenty two knots an hour the rams could steam only seventeen knots an hour in spite of it all however the nation would abate not one jot or tittle of its monroe doctrine there was talk of war the brand new navy was repainted and its ita gu guns ns were e swabbed T then hen it was discovered that the powder mills for supplying the guns if run at full capacity could furnish famish materials tor for only one broadside in every two weeks in the meantime the crew could ball water out of the bulkheads but fight history will repeat that it was on of the cockiest coc kiest young republics that ever singed its ey eyebrows with cannon crackers oddly enough too ts ship builders were ere never tried tor treason chicago record |