Show mi TARS CUSTOM THAT WILL ENDURE AS LONG AS THE NAVY ENDURES Drink lne ho tott to sweetheart and kivee saturday night it make alie aien in alie vavy inetter truer nobler ml ll raver the of this country aro very fond of their naval officers so far as they know them it would a good deal better for the country if they were better known for amon them are to bo found as large a percentage of fine brainy lovable and well bred men as in any of the familiar professions there ie not much sentimentality in the navy but chwe is a deal of sentiment which is a vastly different thing certain cynical young women who have met officers and who have noticed how attentive they are sometimes think that this ia merely a dainty sham devotion bestowed upon young women whom they meet at every port they touch but this is not true there is more genuine chivalry among tho of the united states navy than is to be found among any class of men on shore it is one of the conventions of alie navy to place women upon a pedestal and there is no finer convention in the world it may bo because that for so much of their time they are denied alie delight of seeing women but they never forget them every saturday night in every united states warship afloat there takes place a ceremony eo beautiful so exquisite that it seems to have escaped from the land of chivalry and wandered into american life there flattered and amazed at its welcome it has remained ever since and made tho men in the navy better truer nobler and braver for it must be confessed eliat the officers are first of all splendidly american when a ship is under way there is no apman aboard her she haa no place there slay bo each man carries an imago of one in his thoughts during his watches on deck of things be does not epcar but once each week be comes forth boldly with his fellows and reverently sends greeting from acroca the seas to her from the china sea from stormy capo horn from the peaceful mediterranean comes the message sweethearts and that was ever and always will be the sailors toast and when it ia given aboard uncle sams ships it is a tribute to the sweetness tho purity the beauty of american womanhood there are men who have drank that toast every saturday night for more than 40 years it is never old to them the officers would as soon think of passing unnoticed an important disciplinary regulation as passing saturday night without this ceremony it does not matter whether tho ship is on alie high seas or anchored in a foreign port or lying at the dock in tho brooklyn navy yard so long as her men are aboard they drink the toast it is a custom as old as the navy it will endure as long as the navy endures when the supply of wine is running short during a long cruise the officers deny themselves during the week that they may have it for this toast on saturday nights the servants are well trained they have tho champagne nicely chilled and open it almost without orders after the dinner is finished the executive 1 arises very likely there is gray in his hair his face is reddened by weather and seamed by years for men who reach position cannot be young but his heart is still young they have dined well and the content of well filled stomachs shines on their faces but when the lieutenant commander rises they are still stands straight with bis hand upraised tho champagne bubbling dell piously cious ly gentlemen are your classes charged there ia not one which is empty the officers rise and bow their lieada in an awer 1 I give you the lieutenant commander speaks earnestly and there is a soft glimmer in his eyes 1 I give you sweethearts and wives god bless them sweethearts and wives god bless theat comes in chorus from the officers then they drink and if there runs down their spinal cords ft attio thrill and if their eyes grow moist and their hand shake a bit it is a tribute to themselves and to american womanhood to whom this toast is drunk with something in their breasts throbbing like the great engines and iho and gurgle of the waters dulling their ears there is conjured before cheh like the azure nimbus of a dream a home with a soft voiced woman and the prattle of a child or a slender girlish figure bending her head to hide the love light in her eyes on saturday night the officer at sea feels that be is very near home every one knows that naval officers are famous for the attractions which they leave for the fair this may show that it alie uniform alono which is the magnet new york world |