C
CHINAWARE,
NUTS, etc.
and
kinds
Xmas and
New Year
in all
Goods
election
i
LADIES
SOLD ONLY AT
YEAGE
BELLEFONTE
We
' DOES YOUR R STOVE
NEED REPAIRS?
It will not be long until
—
the chilly blasts will make
the stove the means of com-
fort. Is your stove ready
to make fire in, or does it
need repairs. See toit now,
before the rush season will
mean delay.
Probably you are thinking
of a new stove for the com-
ing winter. We handle the
! World-Famous
Red Cross Stoves
and Ranges,
Come in and let us talk
it over.
T. L. SMITH
CENTRE HALL
————
OU can get
them by ad-
vertising in this
paper. lt reaches
the best class of
people in this
community.
Use this paper if
you want some
of their business.
J Aged A
RENE 5%
BSURD as it may sound to every one,
the bluejackets still believe in Santa
Claus. That rotund, rosy-cheeked lit.
tle old man pays as much attention to
the thousands of boys on board the
warships as he does to the thousands
of, perhaps younger in years, boys and
girls ashore. Instead of coming in a
sleigh with reindeer and merry bells,
he comes in a precarious-looking boat, fully arm-
ed and convoyed, with the of musketry and
the loud blowing of horns of horns
is a universal custom all coun
tries and
On Christmas day
officer of the
fur tree hoisted
boom
The
with the boy
with the bluejackets
is the highest
junior
blowing
gf of
and colors too
ranking
to his
his flag
staff, he
Santy
fleet, and all flags are
to the masthead With
and the rest of the
about the ships distributing the
gifts with which his argosy is laden His method
of dolug this as much red tape as
the old admiral of the
fleet in the time of Queen Bess All the
and
lieutenant, his aide
Cruises among
ia fraught with
Was ever
Dutch
greetings of the
mbolical of austere rank
bounty that can be
gether gre
paraphernalia sy
gotten to
ised ns adorn
HALL, PA.
ode]
EL AGSAN
7 pi
VPA
Yi
XL TLV Vg C4 CHI
rR PY «TIRE PRY
y ( 2d ” Yoie3 IY i LAG «SIG wild Ir
nents and no end
is expended on the ri
boat to
BOINeLins
ib and
out
and aft
“AY ITM QT BaD
the sal main battery
the boatswain
in his
approaches
and an
from the
uting battery and heavy
manned and fired by
Prosit,” who is a ponderous man
in the way he
throng the
revolver
pose
also, and are
of Der
official garb and daring
the ships
swer the
poop
The galuting takes place
hailing distance, and all
faugh at the tiny sounds, strongly contrasted in
their minds with the salute of the big guns which
they are accustomed to hear. Next the boatswain
gets up in the bows and resting one hand almost
oti top of the foremast and lifting a me gaphone
as long as himself to his lips, calls out at the top
of his voice “Ship, ahoy!” The quartermaster
anawers from the bridge “Hello, hello! Der
Prosit > Aye, aye,” the boatswain returns
alongside,” calls the quartermaster. Then
admiral of “Der Prosit” rises in the stern,
some ten feet aft of the boatswain in the bow, his
head on a level with the topmast, and bawlis out
throuzh his megaphone, "All hands fursl sall,
With that the crew, consisting of one man, who
also acts in the capacity of foghorn, gets amid
ghipg and climbs the mainmast, which sways 10
wnd fro as if about to capsize the entire craft
and pulls down all the sails “The vessel is
vianding to.” he then calls out to the boatswain,
who reports to the admiral over the crew's head,
who in turn reports to Santa Claus, sitting in the
stern sheets at the tiller. All these orders are
given and carried out in the most solemn man.
per, to the merriment of the ship's crew looking
on from the rail above
The crew of “Der Prosit” then gets out oars
and pulls alongside while on deck the real boat
swain's mate pipes eight side boys to stand at the
head of the gangway and salute the admiral and
Santa Claus when they come aboard. The presi
dent of the United States only rates six side boys
when he comes aboard, while Santy has his
eight, besides his are petty officers while the pres
ident's are only good-looking apprentice boys. As
the argoay draws alongside the boatswain pipes
the long. low tune and three short blasts char
acteristic of the coming aboard of great men.
No less a person than the captain of the ship
meots the admiral of "Der Prosit,” his wife,
Santy, laden with a huge basket full of presents,
the bostawain and the crew, while the bugler
sounds three portentious ruffles and the ship's
whose crews sides
salute with a shot
Der Prosit’ is
hands have a
before
within
Come
the
deed the officers are all present, for they believe
in Santy as well as do the crew. When the ad
miral's wife, some fair faced sallor with Manila
rope hair and a tawdry skirt, swings aboard hold
ing her train high and exposing a generous view
of red stocking to the eyes of the sallors, a great
laugh is evoked and a shout goes up, “higher,
igher,” or “Oh, you Kiddo!”
The boatswaln in command of the erew shouts
to his one man for, “Attention!” then puts him
through a series of gymnastics of a peculiar and
Intensely funny character, The admiral, as if not
thoroughly taking in the landscape, lifts a huge
®
ra wine
his eves and makes a
pretense of getting bearings by scrutinizing
about h Presently he reports to
the sailors
Santy who has dex ed his basket of presents
ars ino the |
lashed together,
pair of binoc
bottles
m of two quart
his
oh
1 the quarter deck, “Sir, | see we are now in the
n
Can ibal {ales
Santy begins then to pick up
read the names aloud iving them
Der Prosit” and the admiral's
the who distri}
presents and
to the
and even te
ites them accord
crew of
wife,
admiral himsel
ngly. cutting many ridiculous capers
The a type th
They
presents are of at bring laughter:
gotten up and made by friends of
whom they with an
wards characterizing the ambition, the
the standing jokes that mark the
the captain is a four striper he will probably get
an admiral's star, unless he has some other whim
by which he is more properly known. When he is
presented with this he can only blush in the
presence of everybody, and take dose as
Santy is supreme op Christmas day
ilut the greatest gift that
falls to the lot of those who
fortune or slip have come
It is customary sSanty tw
the captain and ask him to
books In the face of everybody
mas day the
are the
sent
idea to
whim or
those to are
receiver it
his
Santy can bestow
through sone
in line for punishmem
walk up to
whitewash” the
and on Christ
captain can not very well refuse this
although some captains have seen
to wince and cough before granting the immeas
urable favor. The report book, in which all pun
ishable acts are entered, is swept clean and the
culprits are reinstated to first-class standing and
enjoy all the privileges held by their wore for
tunate shipmates who have not fallen before the
multiplicity of temptations that dally assail the
mano -warsman.
The event which forms a background for all this
merriment ig the regular “big feed,” as the sail
ors call it. For the last week this has crept inte
their conversation Ple, turkey and plum duff
are the three great delicacies to the sallors, and
they have more respect for them than for the
three graces,
‘What kind of a feed Is the commissary gonua
band us?” one eallor asks of another. During this
time of anticipation excitement runs high and the
commissary is a very much respected person. In
fact, he is never a retired person, for his billet is
a hard one to fill to the satizfaction of every one
who eats at the general mess. Thers is always
some old tar or other who imagines himself to
be slighted by the quality of his food, and the
apprentice boys take from him the habit of com.
plaining with very little reason on their side.
Quarrels often result and have to be referred to
the “mast,” where the first lleutenant (first luff)
settles the matter In favor of the commissary, so
that the sailor arranges a private settlement with
the commissary later on where the first luff has
nothing to say about It,
The burden of the repast falls naturally upon
the cooks and meas attendants. It is far from an
enjoyable affair with them, although they are an
mis
for
boldly
request been
attendant :
is turned
nes are
het where stiealn
other
the skinners
When they are done
to and fro in
nearest
six-foot masher proceeds to
flakey mass fit for a King
pee 1a}
+ shit migei
the ship nsel
the
rex wit)
urs Wild
all the while,
his, and tak
pound
who paces EAaLiey
nounts upon the
ing a great
them int
But this
y a white
¢ not all he has to do, e ither The
browning in the long ovens and he
assistants have continually to open
the doors probe with long forks into the swelling
breasts and ascertain when to take them out
The mess tables are all numbered zo that each
sailor knows just where to go when he gets down
through the hatchway, and he doesn’t waste any
time getting there on this occasion. It is indeed
a singular and lively scene on the gundeck at this
period Every man's plate is heaped to the brim
before him and all apply themselves with a dar
ing and disregard for mere stomachs that would
make a dyspeptic wince and turn his head. Dozens
of tables dangle from hooks between parallel col
umns of who seem only restrained from
eating each other alive by the flimsy, vaciliating
boards port the food
When these ravenous appetites have been
slaked and even those who have the dilating gow
of an anaconda are put at rest, or in pain, as
the case may be, some of the “old shellbacks’ will
begin to grow reminiscent and tell of the Christ.
mases they have spent in lands where there were
no turkeys nor anything else fit for the "big
feed ™
Says old Pete the sallmaker’'s mate I mind
the time down in Darien, when the steward had
nothin’ in the storeroom but a ton of crusty hard
biscuits full of bugs, so when ¥' busted ‘em with
the handle ‘ve yer knife they went whimty nifty
in every direction--under yer plate, behind yer
cup, up ver sleeve and around the mess pans
Rut, mates, that was a Christmas fer yer life! We
couldn't eat the buffalo meat, it was that much
like bolt rope, so we drunk or coffee and engaged
ourselves in bug races down the table. By tryin
all the bugs out we got some speedy ones. And
they was speedy. | had one that could trot down
that table—trot, mind y' like it was Maude 8S
herself. The devil of It was the bloody bug
wouldn't keep in the course between the plates.
She'd break fer a hole near the finish. 1 bet big
money on ‘er, though, and after loosin’ 20 bones
by her duckin’ but of it when she was two whole
plate lengths ahead, mind y'. 1 figgered 1 could
head her off the next time and win anyhow, so 1
put up 50 bones—50 good cold plunkers on that
skinny little runt of a bug, and etrike me blind!
you ought a seen that race! Go! That cussed
little bug slid down that mess table like it was on
ball bearings. | headed ‘er off at the hole with
a plece of tack and she run clean again the bot
tom board ofthe table an’ butted ‘er brains out,
kicked over on ‘er back stone dead. But that
race! Whew! | raked In the coin from the cap-
tain of the hold Christmas ! Well, strike me, fel
Jers! That was some Christmas even if we
didn't have any eats.”
turkeys are
and his three
sailors
which su:
ers