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Show I SPECIAL ARTICLES' OF 1MTEEEST TO MILA2W i - f 1 . ZiJ' M u 'XtJ"' " K.ss Anne Pcmrweil CahalL Miss Florence Pardee Wis? Elizabeth Lerjere Fleming, Km Evttyn WaJth t II H Ml ea lighter ; I sSr .Mpi' E nvy Of Al I I mSi fr BiF Women Mp IbSSKJ V 'M.ss Elsie r 1 I lJ T ' C;ilder I 1 -spPS IftVPTTlrf . 1!J5 tt N T "I. n-' A TO ncots rtcrteii.i g IP -iS christen a battle snip. HS L honor among the Srt limited number of public fejTgTrj) honors which Uncle Sam I wramiiH to offer M- fflir Km daughters is more coveted than the oppor- Ifj tunlty to stand sponsor for one of bU H giant sea fighters. To be the central fig-1 H ure in the patriotic celebration which H marks the launching of a vessel of the n American navy is the greatest distinction n that can come to any woman, and thai 91 they are wide awake to the social advan- Sij tages of being selected for the pleasant III task is shown by the intense nvalry to' fljj wjn such appointments. Ill s battle ships, or even the smaller type In of navel vessels, are not launched every, rly day, the opportunities do not come very H often, a fact which keeps iniercst in the HI hunt for the prke at fever heat. I-csj thau two hundred women can brast of the fact that tbey have given names to it the vessels of our navy, that bran II figure JJ representing the number who have had Un the honor bestowed on them since the U custom was inaugurated, many years ago fl There is no way of estimating the num- U ber of women who were disappointed in am failing to attain those much desired jfij prizes, but It is a tradition of the Navy 111 Department that there is always from 111 fifty to one hundred candidates for every fj!lj appointment, ftftf The women fortunate enough to be III chosen have made their unique distinction III the basis for an organization known as Hi the Society of Sponsors of the Fnitcd ffll States Navy, an organization which, by BflJ the very nature of the sole qualification required for membership, is the last wo-,! in cxclusiveness. As the battle ships are named au r Slates and some of the smaller vessels after ities. it will be seen that the membeisiiip covers the entire country. While the honor haa invariably been awarded t- women still in their earl.-twenties, earl.-twenties, in recent years many of those chosen have been misses in their teens and little girls. All sorts of Influence and pressure are brought to hoar by lleso anxious to land the prize, and no political wire is left unpulled by the relatives of the respective candidates. From the President down every public oflicial is besieged be-sieged with data concerning the claims of the candidules just as soon as it is decided which State is to have the honor of haing, a battle ship named after it. Selecting Sponsors a Difficult Task Senators and Ilepresenta lives in Congress Con-gress from the State selected find their mail bulging with the photographs of fair constituents, together with complete tani-ily tani-ily histories of the candidates. Meu of influence back home are prevailed upon to take part in the battle, and they bom-bard bom-bard their representative? at Washington with letters, telegrams and even telephone tele-phone call. Statesman and oflieials of the ay Department De-partment are beginning to dread the ordeal of selecting sponsors for the vessels. No matter how carefully the claims of respective re-spective candidates are considered, there is bound to be hard feeling when the ap- Ipoiutment is made. Many of those chosen are daughters of Senators, Cabinet ollicers. Governor Bepr. enr.itives and Mayor Where tl.ey are not daughters of rela lives of public officials they are member-of member-of prominent families in their respectlvi communities. The questio- of beauty bat not been considered in making the ap poiutnients, but It has so happened that, most of the young women chosen have' had more thau their share of good looks. I Ambitious mothers are always keen to get the prize for their daughters, appreciating appre-ciating the social advantages the opportunity oppor-tunity offers for meeting persor.s worth while. Several days before the- one set aside for the launching of a battle ship lhei if t 1 1!! Eunice KniohL fc y S ' Miss Mary Alice Spry. young woman chosen to act as spensor. accompanied by a deii gatioD of promitM Dt citizens and public officials from the State to be honored, arrives at the city where the launching :s to take place There arc tln-atre panics, dinm rs. dances and other social affairs as a preliminary to the event, in all of which si le plays the leading part. The ceremony of christening a battle ship is not an elaborate one, but tho sponsor and those who are to assist her go through several rehearsals in order that there shall bo no hitch in the pro-gri pro-gri nime. As most persons arc aware, the cere-svelB& cere-svelB& HT hHhH Mtj5 Alice Welles. I ! niooy consists in breaking a beittle of I champagne across the bow of the vessel. but rehearsals are necessary to make sure that the bottle shall come in contact with :the steel prow on the instant that the vessel starts sliding toward the water from its mammoth cradle. Mrs. Nixon Holds Record. "I christen thee New York" were the words used by Miss Flsie F. Caldor iu naming that vessel, the greatest battle ship in the world, a few wicks ago. These are the words used by most of tbe sponsors. The naming of the New York as the most recent christening of n battle ship It gave two Brooklyn. N. Y.. girls (ho opportunityicraved by girls in all parts of the country Miss ("abler is the daughter daugh-ter of Representative William M Colder, of Brooklyn. She was gullied by Miss Kathleen Fitzgerald, daughter of Repre-sentativc Repre-sentativc John J Fitzgerald, of Brooklyu-While Brooklyu-While the custom of having women christen vessels with champagne has! come down through the age.-, many vessels ves-sels have taken the water for the first I time without this ceremony. A notable, I case in this respect was the Monitor, first of our ironclad war ships and regarded as the pioneer ship of our ironclad navy. jOn January 30, lsirj, she slid into the I Iwater at Greenpoint, L, 1 , for the first ,time, unaccompanied by the splashing of 'wine or words. At that critical period; in the history of the country the breaking lot a bottle of champagne would probably i have been denounced as gross cxirava-i lgance. The few persons present at the launching were more concerned as to I j whether the ironclad hull would float or' igo to the bottom, many wagers having been made that it would do the latter. The Connecticut, one ,,f the most widely advertised battle ships in tbe navv. was christened by MLss Alice Welle, daughter of Kdward T. Welles, fe.rmerly of Hartford, Hart-ford, Conn. Miss Evelyn Walsh, daughter 0f fr Thomas F. Wnl-h. the millionnaire mine owner of Colorado, was spou-or for the battle ship named after her natit Sluie. Miss WaUh is now Mrs. Edward Bcale' McLean, of Washington, D. C. To Mrs. T.ewis Nixon wilt of the famous shipbuilder. Has fallen the honor of naming two vessels of the American navy and two belonging to foreign navies Mrs. Nixon christened the old battle ship Florida and the Holland, our first submarine, sub-marine, and stood sponsor for battle ships owned by Mexico and Russia. In this respect it Is believed she holds the record. In is!s Miss Nancy Letter, of Chicago, christened the battle ship Illinois Mention Men-tion of that year coupled with a st-ry about the navy naturally bring9 to mind the ill fated Maine, which was blown up in Havana Harbor in ISO. It was the first of our armorec cruisers, and was hr - j 4 ' i Miss Claudia Lyon, , ! '- v launched November 18. 1800, at the New York Navy Yard, Miss Alice Tracy Wtl-merding. Wtl-merding. r.ie. e of Mr Benjamin F Tracy, one time Secretary of the Navy, standing sponsor for it Miss Wiltuerding is now Mrs. Frederic R. Coudert, of New Y'ork. Miss Mary Preble Anderson, of Fort-' land. Me., was sponsor for the present battle ship Maine, whii h was launched at Philadelphia July 27. 1001. She was choetn by Governor Hill, then chief executive ex-ecutive of the State of Maine. The tdd cruiser New York was christened chris-tened by Miss Helen T.ige, daughter of' Mr. J. Seaver Fage and now Mrs. Arthur Ar-thur Weeler Francis, of New York. Uiaa Carol B. Newberry, daughter of Mr. Truman H. Newberry, at one time Assistant Secretary of the Nary, broke the bottle of champagne over tho prow of the battle ship Michigan. The North Dakota, lirst of the American Ameri-can dreadnought, was given its name by Mis Blary Benton, daughter of Colonel Jjohn K. Benton, of Fargo. N. D Miss Anne Peonewel Cahall, of Bridgeville.l I Di-l . niece of a man who was Governor HH of that State, named the Delaware, second vessel of the dreadnonght type. Miss Dorothy Eunice Knight, daughter of Jude Knight ot Wyoming, and god- jfi 'ehiM r.f (;overnor 'ir.-y. of that State, p4 christened the Wyoming. In Mar of this year Miss Claudia Lyon, daughter of t Colonel Cecil Lyon, one of the most power- ' ful republican hoses in the Southwest, L christened the battle ship Texas She j I a very iretty little girl and one of the j young' Bt BpoUSOn. a1 Mifi Mary Aliee Spry, daughter of Governor William Spry, of Utah, christened the battle ship Utah, and Mis Mary L. Macon, daughter of Representative Representa-tive Robert B. Macon, of Arkansas, hns'cned the battle ship named for L W i hat State. Miss Elizabeth Legera Fleming and five Florida girls bestowed the name Florida on one of the most powerful vessels in the navy. The South Carolina was christened by Miss Frederick.! Fred-erick.! Ansel, daughter of the chief executive execu-tive of the State at the time the vessel was launched. Miss Florence Pardee, mughter e.f Gov- BJ ernor I'ardee, of California, was sponsor II for the cruiser California. Miss Hazel j m McLanc, daughter of Governor McLane, 1 P christened the hattle ship New Hampshire Hamp-shire Daughters of Senators Quay, of Pennsylvania-. Money, of Mississippi, and P Oockrell, of Missouri, christened vescels 3 S in the navy named after those States. Tfaese are just n few ..f the o-men and girls who have enjoyed die honor. Tho mfc Society of Sponsors of the Foiled Slate wP Navy was organized in lfK)7. The officers offi-cers are: Mrs. Reynold T Hall, presi- .Pl dent; Mrs. John R- Pels, first vice presi- j t-! t-! Mrs .rge Cameron, second vice j president; Mrs. Edith Benham, secretary; j Mrs. Charles W. MacQuoid, treasurer. L |