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Show ONLY TWELVE SOSG. Only twelve out of the 400 enlisted force on the receiving ship Richmond, at the League Island navy yard, ordered or-dered to learn the words of the "Star Spangled Banner," gave evidence recently re-cently that they knew the song, says the Philadephia Press. Capt. Leary, of the Richmond, sent forth the order that no leaves of absence ashore would be granted unless the men showed that they knew the words of the national anthem. To ascertain how many oi the sailors and landsmen really had memorized the song Capt. Leary decided de-cided to hold a test examination. In the morning, after the men had been lined up at roll call, Chaplain Morrison Morri-son requested all those who knew the words to step forward. To the surprise sur-prise and dismay of the officers only twelve stepped out from the ranks. To relieve the nervous tession and merriment the lieutenant in charge immediately im-mediately gave the order to "air beds." Some of the sailors say that while the captain has authority to compel them to learn rules of ordinance, ne has no right to order them to learn "The Star Spangled Banner." As a large majority major-ity of the men who crave leave of absence ab-sence declare they will not learn the song, the situation promises interesting interest-ing developments. |