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Show MAN 7 tfzere are i;20 R zaive learned to tie the I love-knot and the matrt- I monlal-knot, but can you lie 1 the nautical-knot? It Is the B hardest of them all, for the I 777or zozz pull on It the I asifer zY zo2s. 1 ere Is the way that. the- 8 sazor cfoes tf: 1- ZH HE RES' S not a man of us ana yf . there's not a woman of ua " fS but whom has his and her knotty problems to solve in I I L this life, but the knottiest I problems of all . are the V s a problems of knots at sea Vj" Z1 nl tho nautical mile of 2025 yards, about which only the pilot and captain cap-tain need worry, but. of tho cordage knots and tackle with which tho sailor has to bo on such familiar terras before he can slip' Into his seafaring sea-faring toes and got a Bailor's berth. "What boy Is thcro who, having lived on tho border of tho sea, has not felt tho lure of that j great force whose Imagination has not been stimulated by the atlng of tho salt spray In his nostrils, and who has not been Inclined at ono time or another to "run away to sea?" B' And even tho inland lad has had his glorl- V. ous color-pictures In his mind about tho whlto WL sails and the thundering waves of that unex- m , plored deep. "Treasure Island" has been every K boy's Inspiration and has done more to satisfy , tho fancies of the sea-struck youth than any U , other book. "Capt. Kldd" Is many a lad's hero.-W hero.-W There Is a romanco In mystery, to which, not thoboy alone, but every one who fecl3,' Is sus-jB-tL ceptiblo. Tho great mystery of the sea has I been a lure to men ever dnce tho second gener ation after tho flood (doubtless the first felt in It no romance) and this great force the sea, has never ceased to be the art and tho pootry and tho Imagination of people since that day. Sea Is Different Today. How different the soa today, howover, from the sea of yesterday! What romance can thero bo left lr. an ocean full of man-mado sharks thrusting their treacherous destroyers Into tho vitals of any and every craft that dares io tail beyond its port? The ocean Is no longer tho lure and tho ro mance of men It Is a monster, terrible, fatal, cruel. It Is tho disgrace, and the crime, and today, more than ever, wo listen to tho tales of the sea the tragic talos to bo sure, and wo look back to the old dny3 of obscurity with a certain wlstfulness, feeling that In our knowledge knowl-edge of tho "mysterious deep," which is mysterious mys-terious no longer, wo have lost more than wo have gained. Way back yonder In what seems like a dlf- f ferent nge of civilization, great whlto ships roved thu seas In peace and poked Inquisitive .helm:, Into amiable foreign ports. Ete&m and electricity had no part In. tho 'P ! kmotJ Nfc wiJmK t&'y kmot steering of those crafts all was accomplished In a leisurely fashion, by tho wind that tilled canvas sheets stretched taut with ropes and pulleys. It was then that the sailor lad had to know how and when to tie each knot In tho cordage of the vessel, and to learn to bo a sailor was no oasy thinp to do. Thorc aro schools, even now, where tbe expectant seafarer must go to learn to tlo knots, for whether ho be an Idler 'In the galloy or mato of a top-hole clipper, ho must "know tho ropes" of his ship. On a small vessel tho cordage Is known a-j "hawsor-lalU" This Ib rope that consists of three "strands," each strand being mado of several yarns of homp twisted togethor. Thr.o of these "hawser-laid" twisted together form -a "cable-laid," or, simply, cablo ropo. A "shroud-lald" rope Is usually mado up of four strands laid around a central strand or core. Tho names of the different kinds of ropo Is of great importance to tho sailor, as Is also tht? knowlcdgo of how each ropo Is 'laid" or twisted twist-ed In the making. First, tho hemp is spun to tho right hand to foriri yarn, tho number of yarns used Is twisted to tho lctf hand to mako a strand three strands laid to tho right to form a hawser, and thrco hawsers, laid once more to tho left form the '"cable." The objoct of this alternating left and right twist Is to keep tho fibers parallel. Fancy a civilization without cubles. rope9, strinss and thread! There Is nothing that can quite take tholr place, and who, pray, could fashion a garment with any sort of a staying quality out of cloth If tho thread spinning Industry In-dustry should suddenly cease? From tho making of a garment to tho laying of great wlro cables of twisted ropo across tho ocean, tho Idea that was conceived ever since man became an industrious animal, Instead In-stead of tho luxurious frult-callng chap that wo aro led to Imagine our forofather to bo, baa been Improved upon and utilized more and moro until we might almost say "civilization and progress hangs upon a single thread, which, belmf'cut, would glvo us highly cultivated culti-vated peopTo a most disastrous fall." "The Dog's Leg." Tho "sheepshank," or, as It Is nomotlmes called, "tho dog's leg," Is, perhaps, tho most useful of any of tho sailor's knots to those of us who never expect to go to sea. Ever so many times wo have oloctrlo light cords that wo wish wcro not qulto so long, and to shorten thorn wo have clumsy, ugly knots that stick out and often mako the light unovon by tilting the shade. Whon the Bailor wants to shorton tho cord, not, unhappily perhaps, of tho electric light cord, In his roundhouse where tho Idlers bunk, but to shorton tho ropo temporarily whero there Is a strain or In bringing In a sail, he doso not tlo a woefully complicated knot In hla cord, which no living mortal can undo, but ho quickly and deftly makes tho simplest kind of a twiBt and tho ropo Is as much shorter oh ho likes and can bo undpno In tho wink of an oye. Tho "dog's leg" 1b mado In tho mlddlo of the rope, or nbovo tho standing end (whero the rope Is fastened at both ends). Tako a pleco of tho rope and form throo parallel otrando or two bights of whatever length desired. Ttound tho end of each bight, mako a hitch (a small loop) with tho part loading to tho ond. As long as thero Is a strain on tho ropo and It Is hold taut tho knot will not slip, no matter how hard It Is pulled. In letting out tho "dog's leg" know tho ropo need only to bo Blackened and the hitches can be slipped oft easily, Peter Flatrcs, at one tlmo a sailor In tho French navy and merchant ships, who ones claimed his homo city as Concarncau, Franco, but now has pledged himself aa a true and loyal cltlzon of our country, tell3 many an Interesting In-teresting tale of tho sea In his quaint forolgn way, talking as long as he has an audlenco about tho wondors and tho Joy and dangers of tho open Bea, "When Flatrcs was a lad of 12 years, he says, ho left his little town In Franco and went out to aca as a cabin boy. II o told mo he waited on tho captain of the merchant vessel, served his meals and kept tho cabin clean. "Oh, but I was sick," Flatres oxclalmcd, "whon first I took an ocean voyage. I could do nothing tho first throo dayB out, but Ha on tho deck and bo tho fun for all tho orow and wish that I was back In my llttlo homo In Concarncau." So even a hardenod seaman, browned and stained with tho ocoan's none too gontlo Bait and wind .and spray, remembers hl3 first voyage voy-age with some qualms. HJo story, as I learned It, follows: For flvo ypara Peter stuck to his seaman's career, and five times has ho gone around tho world with coal and sugar and stuff3 from tho OrlonL No Gallor Is truly a sailor until after ho has "rounded tho Horn." That In the real tost of mettle and tho proof that ho Is worthy of the namo "seaman." Flatrca, having rounded Capo Horn ten times, saya that ho feels that ho in worthy of tho namo. The first tlmo that a sailor "rounds tho Horn" is tho grcatoat event of his lifo on tho ocean. Tho storms that rago around that butt of tho Jand are more terrible than any we have ever seen, and tho cold is so great that tho sailors almost perish. Many trunks and boxes that aro piled In tho hold of tho ship boforo she sails out of the harbor aro full of heavy clothing, stout aockn and knoe-hlgh boot3, thick underclothing, sweaters, ' coats, caps, gloves and oilskins,- for oven many pounds of woolen clothing cannot keep tho cold of the Horn from penetrating to the marrow of the hardiest seaman. Encounters Trade Winds. Tho trade winds aro the first that tho ship oncounters, and thon It Is that the sailor has a chanco to show somo knowledgo of his knots In adjusting tho sails and cordago. After the trades, tho wc3t winds arise and as tho ship skims over tho water, noaror and nearer tho Horn, the newly made sailor begins to tremble at tho storms that aro rising, for the talos of tho old seamen are thrilling and terrlblo. Flatrcs tolls the yarn of tho tlmo when tho clipper on which he was sailing almost capsized cap-sized and tho crew were half dead beforo she got around tho Horn, "It was from Barry Dock, Wales, that we started with a cargo of coal and our destination desti-nation was San Francisco, Cal.," ho narratos. "Wo sailed through tho channel and down tho coast making our way out to sea. it was n 1S90. and In Juno. Tho Juno storms around tho Capo are moro terrible than I can toll of. and whatever knowlcdgo I may have had of the knots I learned to tlo, was all used In that voyage voy-age "At C5 degrees south wo ran Into tho worst of all the squalls that I evor oncounterod the ship lunged through a stinging, cutting mlat of fine snow the wave that dashed over tho side of the ship and flooded tho clocks with a green nnd white foam vore as high ns a ten-story ten-story building. Wo had to run up the foqt ropes 150 foot above tho deck and hang over the dark greon sea while ,jye furled the sails twlco the kltos wero whipped out by the gale and we had to climb over the fruttock-shrouds and frap the mils that were becoming rlbbojfs In the teeth of the wind. "Cold? Our breath was frozen as It left tho IH lips and hands had no feeling they were numb H and could scarcely grasp the gaskets. The oil- H skins were as so much paper in tho fierce water that rushed over the decks. Wot to tho s .In, H froxan to the marrow and blinded by tho 1 y H spray, we worked day and night, with scarcely IH any sleep In the sopping berths sixty days wo H wore In rounding the Horn!" That voyage from Barry Dock to San Fran- IH clsco took the ship five months and seven dijs IH on the seas. Four or flvo months is the v- H erngo time that It takes a sailing vessel to H traval from Europe to San Francisco by way M jH Capo Horn, whereas a steamer can mako th H trip ' In sixty days. Sailing is far less expen- M slve, however, and thgo ocean schooners aro H used more than steam ships as merchant ves- M s els. jH Knots that Are Required. H "Some of tho knots that I had to make to JH fasten the sails during that gale," Flatres con- H tlnucd, "were tho "topsail halyard bend,' lh H which the gaff topsail halyards are bent on th" H topsail yard, and cannot slip if drawn closo Jt jH is made by taking three turns round tho ard IB with tho halyard, leading It back over the JM standing part, under threo turns, nnd back un- H der tho first turn. H "Tha 'bowline on a bight' was another which jH I found T couldn't have done without. I doubled IH a line and made a bight with it doubled. Then IH passod the doubled ond under nnd up through IH tho bight and back over tho whole loop, and ijH up to the part above tho bight. The knots of a ljH sailor are tho most important thing that ho UH has to learn and the hardest thing that ho ;U learns before he can become a seaman." H Thcdo knots aro not useful to tho salloi1 M alono. howover. and thero are household uses H for almost every Jenot that tho seaman has in- IB vented, just as tho sheepshank Is the neatest lM and easiest way of shortening a cord of any jH Very few persons understand how to splice i IH ropo. and that Is a thing that has to be dono Jn IH almost any time or place whether it bo In M boating at the summer camp In the homo, or M hero and thero In ono's travels throughout life. M A "short spllco" Ib thus mado: The two rop.i H ends that have to bo Joined aro unlaid for a H few Inches so that tho threo stands of which Vm the ropo la formed aro separated. Each strand H end Is greased and twisted Into a point, so that H it can bo easily manipulated. Then ttie three FH strands of one ropo aro so placed across tho H throo strands of tho othor ropo that each H strand lies closely between two Btrands of the m ropo opposite. Each strand Is then pasEod H under the next strand !jut ono to It, of the op- jH Poslto rope, and drawn tightly through. Tho jH process Is repoatod. and generally each strand K is In nil, drawn threo times through tho alter- m nato strands; but boforo passing through for H the last time, it is tapered so as to glvo tho IK spllco n. neater appearance by cutting off half H the yarns composing It. Lastly, tho loose ends H aro cut oft and tho spliced part of tho rope i H hammered Into shape with a mallot. JM In this ago of sleolK whqn tho ropos and tin H cables and the wlres'thnt hold a vessel together H are of steel, and tho hemp ropes and fla ropti H und cotton ropes aro considered usoless In tin H rigging of an ocran vcsscl-wc aro prono to for- H got the vain uf the old hw cordwje of tin H vessels c .v"V - .n c - ti . u r .t yrt , - H soleto, however these oiu-mslnoneu ricStr-G . H |