| LIFE ABOARD THE OLYMPIA. I & W |3 TKc JRoutirxz orv DeWey s Flagship From the Bugles JRev'cillz to J-'ipedovM, || JACK AT WORK AND AT PLAY. § §£@sß&&gß@gßffiߣ^^sßEß@SSS££Bsß&&3s NEW YORK CITY (Special).—The life of the sailors aboard Admiral Dewey's flagship, the cruiser Olympia, is a duplicate of the routine peculiar to every other boat in the United States Navy. The discipline has not been relaxed because the jack tars ac quitted themselves sc well at Manila. On the contrary, an extra effort is made by the erew to hold by good be havior in peace the laurels they won in time of war. The men-o'-war's men of the Olympia are feted and petted while ashore, but once under the Ad miral's eye they return to the stern realities of life on the ocean wave. It is sot a very fascinating or wildly hilarious life that of the man forward on board a modern warship. There is a monotony and sameness of things that eat into the heart at times, and it is only the excitement caused by a wreok or a storm or a series of battles like that recently experienced that lends a welcome air of diversion to the naval day. To rise at 5.30 to the harsh notes of a bugle and drum is the or der, except during the few winter months, when a half hour's grace "is permitted. The "musics," as the marine drummers and buglars are called, are summoned ten minutes be fore time by the corporal of the guard. The two lads, rubbing the sleep from their eyes, take their stand near the forward hatch, and, at the word from the officer of the deck, break into the stillness of the early morning with an infernal hubbub technically known as "reveille." The hideous uproar speed ily brings a chorus of grunts and WRITING HOME. (On bonrJ the flagship Olympia.) yawns, not unmixed with something stronger, from the occupants of the hammock-crowded berth deck, and presently the ladder leading above is thronged with half-clad figures mount iug upward in a ghostly procession. Each figure carries upon his shoulder his individual hammock, carefully lashed and fettered. This he de posits in the receptacles prepared for the purpose and then hies himself to liis mess, where he finds steaming cof fee without milk and barely sweetened, but extremely welcome as au eye opener. The spotlessly clean decks of naval vessels are proverbial. This cleanli ness, which seemed novel even to royal eyes, is the result of hours of hard, constant work every morning on board every ship in the service. It is to the executive officer that all praise or blame in reference to the condition of u ship bolongs, and directly after the crew has had its early coffee he is on deck personally superintending the holystoning and scrubbing and per haps painting. Herelieves the officer of the deck, who goes below for a light lunch, and then sees that the boat swain's mates and the captains of the different parts of the ship distribute their men to the best advantage. If it be wash day the crew is allowed to at tend to its laundry work before the sorubbing begins, for,be it understood, there are no "Hop Lees" or colored women in the naval service. It is seldom that the ship's cook, who has the exclusive privilege to make and sell dried apple pies at twenty-five cents a pie, and the ship's barber, who pursues his tonsorial art at the rate of $1 each quarter for every man on his books, scrub their own clothing. They are rich enough to hire a ueedy landsman or coal passer to do it for them. As the sailor's outfit consists solely of cloth or white duck trousers, flan THE FENCING DRILL. nel inside and outside shirts and the ordinary cotton hose, the operation of washing does not call for skill or prep aration. For instance, if the article to be renovated is the flannel shirt, Jack selects a clear part of the deck, sprinkles a little water upon the spot, then spreads his shirt, previously soaked, upon the deck. Then with salt water soap and a scrubbing brush he sets to work. A subsequent rinsing completes the task and the garment is fastened with bits of twine 1o the clothesline stretched from mast to mast. Holystoning decks and scrubbing AT MESS ON BOARD THE OLYMPIA. ladders and gratings with sand and canvas continues until ten minutes of 8 o'olock, when the call to "spread mess gear" is sounded by the boat swain's mate on watch. This is also the signal to clean up, and each jackie grabs a deck bucket, gets his share of fresh water from the captain of his part of the ship, and makes his toilet, which, if not elaborate, amply suffices for his needs. After the washing, the sailor's toilet consists of a vigorous rubbing with a coarse towel—his own private property—and a hair brushing with the aid of an ancient brush and a small wooden-framed glass generally carried in the little chest, or ditty box, which is the officially approved trunk of each jackie. At th& stroke of eight bells, 8 o'clock, the call to breakfast is given. Salty air and an open, free life pro duce excellent appetites, and there is no dawdling in the race for the mess tables on the bertlideck. Breakfast over, the men have until 9 to smoke, then all hands are turned to and the ship is cleaned up for quar ters. This latter ceremony is con ducted daily, rain or shine. During CHAPLAIN BEAXEY, OF THE OLYMPIA. week days the morning hours, are generally devoted to drill. A settled schedule is made out when the ship goes into commission, and this is strictly adhered to. Each ship has its general quarters, fire quarters, collision drill, abandon ship, arm and away boats, broadsword exercise, or something of similar character, and from 9.30 until noon the decks are alive with men under instruction. Dinner is followed by a short rest, and at 1 o'clock "turn to" is sounded again. During the afternoon five days of the week the crew is kept at work attending to the multifarious duties of the ship. Saturday after noon is considered a half holiday, the smoking lamp is lighted, and if the ship is in port the mw are allowed to see visitors and enjoy themselves »®> cording to their individual inclina tions. With mess-gear in the early eveniug, the working day ends. Sap per is followed by a period of re laxation nntil the mellow not.es of the bugle sound taps, and the boatswain's mate's whistle echoes through the decks in the last call of the day" "pipe down." There are many other incidents which goto make up the naval day. At hea, when the ship's company is divided into watches, the monotony is greater than in port. It is daring the latter time, with the fleet atanchorofl some friendly city, or when the ship is tied up to a dock in one of the home navy yards, that Jaok finds his hoars filled with variety and pleasures suffi cient to satisfy even his desires. It is then the liberty list—a potent term in the navy—is made out. To dis cover one's name on the liberty list means shore with its fascinating at traotions, and if there is anything on this footstool the average sailor love? it is to "hit the beach" with a fen dollars in his pocket. Sunday is, as far as possible, kept as a day of rest. After, the morning scrub and inspection comes service bj the chaplain. The old rhyme of Six days shnlt thou labor and do all that thou art able; On the seventh, holystone the decks and scour the cable, Is no longer appropriate, since all labor, except what is absolutely neces sary, is dispensed with. To attend divine servioe, dressed in THE BARBER'S CHAIR ON THE 01/TMFIA. their best, is the one extra duty re quired of the men, and the afternoon is practically free until sundown. Chaplain Eeaney, of the Olympia, is one of the most popular men aboard, and the men confide in him to au ex tent that is remarkable. Oviter Opening ail Art. It takes one hundred million oysters a week to satisfy the requirements of the New York market. This year the supply promises to be prolific. ANATOMY OP THE OYBTEB. The oyster openers are a class by themselves, as distinct and clannish as the 'longshoremen for ocean liners. They receive SI a thousand, and it is a poor shucker that cannot earn $5 in a day's work of eight hours. Many of them earn §8 and 89- There are as many ways of opening an oyster an there are of carving a duck, and each shucker thinks that nis way is the best. It depends upon where a mau has been brought up to the business. Men who have been brought up in New York use nothing but the knife, but they ase it in dif ferent ways. Not one man in a hun dred is a good side knife opener. Other men who use nothing but the knife simply stab the oyster. Epicures declare that this spoils it, but oyster men say that for the general trade it makes little difference. If a shucker has been brought up in the South, Baltimore or Norfolk, for instance, he uses a hammer as well as a knife in opening an oyster. An Editor's Just Plaint. "Send in your items of news when they are fresh," says the Salisbury (Mo.) Press. "We don't like to puD -1 lish a birth after the child is weaned, a marriage after the honeymoon is over, a death after the widow is mar ried again, nor the notice of an enter tainment after the job work is done elsewhere and the editor is charged for admission." ODORLESS WINDOW KITCHEN. How One Woman Does Light Boau> keeping In One Boom. A neat little window kitchen is the invention of an ingenious woman who was compelled to do light housekeep ing in one room in which there* were no modern improvements. After struggling for some months with a FOB LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING. small table and a gas stove, she dis covered that, no matter how much care was exercised, light housekeeping would leave heavy odors. But she finally hit npon a plan that makes light housekeeping odorless, easy and practical, even if the keeper has only one small room. She had a little box kitchen built outside of the lower part of her win dow. In this there were two shelves, the lower for a gas stove and the up per for a variety of culinary utensils. The window kitchen is a miniature ex tension, and can be made out of a strong pine packing box and attached outside of almost any ordinary win dow. It must be firmly screwed tc the woodwork on either side, and the top slanted and covered tar paper. A row of holes about an inch in diameter should be bored through each parti tion of the miniature kitchen, to as sure good ventilation and to carry out the steam and odors that come from cooking. A hole must also be bored in the lower sash of the window, large enough for a gas tube to pass through and be connected with the nearest gas jet. This allows the window to be raised without interfering with the tube. In warm weather the upper shelf of the window kitchen can be used as a receptacle for food to complete the kitchen arrangements. Inside the room the inventor had a window seat built and upholstered. The upholstery and hanging could be removed while the meal was being prepared and the seat used as a table, while the draw ers and compartments and cupboards built underneath served as a recep tacle for dishes and table linen. She huug a peat little pair of curtainsfrom the middle sash of the window, which could be moved back aud forth when the stove was in operation. After the dishes had been washed and restored to their shelves and cup boards tho upholstered seat is put back aud the end of the couch piled up with pillows. The curtains are drawn, and no one would ever know that a meal had been prepared. A Relic of the Light itrignde'ii Charge. A soldier's mouldy hat has just been fouud under a huge stone in the "Valley of Death" at Balaclava. Some boys had shifted the bowlder, as bees had built a nest beneath it, youngsters wanted to get the honey. From the design of tho badge it is evident that the headgear belonged to a trooper of the Seventeenth Lancers, a corps which was included in the im mortal Light Brigade. London Chronicle. Uncle Sam'§ Beautiful Girl Model. A beautiful little New York girl has the distinction of having her picture on every §2 bill issued by the United Stutes in 1896. Her name is Boso Marston, and she is but sixteen years of age. Little Miss Marston is said to be the most shapely child known to the New YorK artists. She is par ticularly remarkable for the beauty and grace of her arms, hands and feet, which closely resemble the old Greek models. On the 1896 82 bill there is a group of five beautiful female fig ures. The one which represents Boso Marston is that of the girl kneeling on the left of the group. The ac companying illustration gives a fair representation of the girl in one of her poses. She has posed for leading artists for over four years. The fig ures of Steam, Electricity and Manu factures on the 1896 $2 bill were all ROSO MARSTON'. sketched from her poses, and she was one of the models for the beantifal figure paintings that decorate the walls of the Congressional library at Washington. It is said that Miss Marston earns 850 a week as a model TFOR FAR H AND GARDEN.I The Top of the J*all. There is an old saying among dairy men that the cow's profits are at the top of the pail. When feeding this should never be forgotten, and the dairyman should make it his business to see that the feed is of such a char acter that will allow the cow to put plenty of "top" to her milk. For an ordinary dairy cow a ration of twelve pounds of clover hay,twenty pounds of corn silage, four pounds of corn meal, four pounds of wheat bran, and four pounds of gluten meal will assist the animal greatly in accom plishing the feat. It might also be well to bear in mind that a thorough bred will greatly assist the milk in getting the "top." Cutting the Chicken*' Wing*. If a persou cares to, it is possible to cut the wings when the chickens are young so that their flying ability will be effectually impaired for all time. This will often prove to be a great ad vantage, especially with fowls of the Leghorn, Hamburg and Minorca breeds. This is not difficult or pain ful to the chick, if done at the right time, and consists simply in cutting the wing at the last joint; the portion cut off is but a trifle when the chick is young, but when it is developed it make-i quite a material difference in its wing power, so much so that it is a comparatively small matter to con fine thein, and so far as practicability is concerned, it does not impair their useful qualities in the least If the work is done when the chicken is about ten or twelve days old, it is scarcely paiuful, and the chick soon recovers its usual activity. Controlling the Potato Stalk Weevil. The adult weevil passes the winter in the potato stalk, where it develops. The easiest method of getting rid of it is to destroy all the potato vines after the crop has been removed. The sooner the potatoes are dug the bet ter. If the vines are left too long many of them will rot, leaving the roots together with one or more wee vils in the ground. The Kansas ex periment station calls attention to the fact that there are certain very com mon weeds which a>e in themselves great nuisances and aid in harboring the stalk weevil. These are ground cherry, stinkweed, eocklebur and bull nettle. These farmers should learn to recognize aud keep out of potato fields. They should be pulled up roots and all aud destroyed. If pull ing is too expensive au operation the weeds should be cut down while young and allowed to dry up. Many of the larvao in tho stalks will perish for want of proper food. Great care should always be taken to promote vigorous growth by clean culture aud fertilization. The heavy vine does not suffer nearly so severely as one that is in any way weakened. The greatest in ury oecurs to vines of low vitality which have suffered al ready from the attacks of other insects drouth or heat. Spraying with lon don purple and paris green has been recommended aud may be of some use. Sweeping the vines with au in sect net when the beetles are on the outside may result in getting rid of a great many of them.—New England Homestead. Kntrnnceo to Fields. In all country roa 1 making there is usually much plowing up of roadsides and scraping of tho soil into the mid dle of the highway to make a good road bed. Most of this work is worse than useless, though there are places where the opeu ditch beside the road operates as a drain aud thus dees some good. But in auycase thefarmer who owns laud adjoining the road should insist that if the ditch is needed the h ; ghway overseer must bridge the open ditch RO that it will aot obstruct the entrances to his fields. Out of those fields he will each year draw many loads of produce, aud iuto them as many of mauui e. To have a good entinuce to his fields is therefore the most important part of road mak ing for him. Yet after the road tax is worke 1 out it is often found that a high but very narrow roadbed has been made i:i the centre of the highway, aud a ditch between it and the gate that he uses to enter his fields. The only way for the farmer then to do is to make at his owu expense a culvert for water to pa«s through, aud cover it nearly as high as the roadbed. It will make a bad place to turn if the roadbed is narrow as well as h'gh. When a farmer has a lew such ex periences he will probably come to the conclusion that woi kiug out his tax under the average path master is about the dearest possible way to keep roads iu good coudition, even though he does not have to pay out any money. The time is coming when deep underdrains besi.le the roadbed will make only a very slight rise in the ceutre necessary to insure a good track. The deep drain should be con nected at frequent intervals with tho loose stone o.- underdraiu uuder the roadbed itself. This will keep the road always dry, audit will make it easy to turn out without breaking down or overturning an overloaded wagon. Thou with a wide gate, so as to avoid danger of hitting either side when a loaded wagon goes through, there will be fewer losses by breakage of wheels, axles or gate posts, ai»l the farmer will have the lenefits of the good road as much aB those who merely drive on its roadbed.— American Cul tivator. Winter Feeding and Roup. During winter iu tne morning I feed a warm mash coui|osed of one scoop ful of oats aud corn, ground together, to twice the ouantitv of b: p au. about one half a scoopful of cut clover, • small handful of oil ipeal and what table scraps or boiled potato parings 1 happen to have. I wis the above with warm or scalding water and let it cool until just warm, when I feed it. If a little green bone be added, say au ounce to each ben three times a week, it would help it out greatly. Do not feed any moie of this mash than they will eat up clean. About 10 o'clock I scatter oats, also wheat —when I have it—in the litter on the floor of the scratching shed. This keeps them busy until noon when I feed any kind of green stuff that I have, such as cabbage leavos or pota to parings. It is well to give a little chopped onion once in a while. About 2 o'clock I feed them their corn iu the scratching shed, nnd they will find all of this by 4 o'clock when I give them all the boiled oats they will eat. I find that by feeding the corn in the scratching shed the fowls are much more active in the morniug than when they are fed on the bare lioor and not compelled to jxercise. If your chicken houses are not made with the opeu scratching sheds attached, try and arrange some place that will auswer the purpose, and you will be repaid in the number of eggs you will get, also in the good health of your fowls. If your fowls are affected with roup I can recommend the following treat ment as an infallible remedy: Goto your druggist and purchase live or teu cents worth of peroxide of hydrogen. If the affected bird's nostrils are stopped up, clean them out, and with a small syringe inject some of the hy drogen into them; also swab the throat with a feather saturated with the hy drogen. Then take a small cloth wet in the hydrogen and bathe the head. Bepeat this treatment two or three times daily until the the fowl is cured, which it will be iu two or three days, except in case* of long standing. I have cured chickens that had the roup so badly that their tongues were swollen so that they were forced to hold their beaks open.—A. B. iu the Agricultural Epitomist. Effect of Good Stabling. In a perfect stable with all the con ditions just right, about 18 pounds of good mixed hay a day will be used by a 1000-pound cow to simply exist, writes J. S. Woodward iu Hoards' Dairyman. If no food is given be yond this, no production of milk cau take place except at the expense of the cow's condition. Dr. Lehman made some very instructive experiments in which a flood of light is thrown on this question of feeding cows. He shows that the same cow that was kept in the pink of couditiou on 18 ; pouuds of dry matter in hay, ate all the way up to 25 pounds as she was placed iu less favored couditious. That when turned out for a couple of hours each day, as cows a:e usually treated, she ate 21 pounds with no gain of milk production. He then continued to show the cost of milk production in food beyond this point. His experiments were very instruc tive, showing that wheu eatiug 25 pounds dry matter iu a cold stable ud milk resulted, and the same wheu eat ing 18 to 21 pouuds under more favor able conditions, so that iu each case, the food eaten was entirely wasted so far as production of milk was con cerned. That wheu eating 25 pounds of dry matter, under ordinary condi tions, 11 pounds of milk was made at au expense of 2.27 pouuds of dry mat ter for each pound. But as the ration was increased for each two pounds of dry matter, the in crease of milk was about 5.6, aud at a gradual reduction in the amount of dry matter to produce a pound of milt, The conclusions of the above turns a bright light on one gravo mistake otteu made, that of deficient feeding. A bright, clear headed mau will look iuto this question, and will see that the milk costing the least is pro duced wheu the cow is fed an abun dant ration, properly balanced. We have often heard farmers remark con cerning a ueignbor who was a liberal feeder: "Yes, I know he gets lots of milk, but it costs him all it is worth in" feeding." By the above it will be seen that it took just about half the food to pro duce a pound of milk when the cow was fed 32 pouuds of dry matter that it did wheu she was fed 25 pouuds, conditions being the same. Many feed their cows only about enough to maintain life. They get but little milk, and what they get costs high. Chicken Chat. B an keeps the chicks in good con dition. Fumigate aud whitewash the hen house at lea-;t twice a year. A good p an is to divide the run way into halves and cultivate one sec ti .u every year. If auy of the fowls acquire a habit of feather eating, separate them before the vke sprea s. A good heu should lay from 150 to 17 i a year. Cull out those which will not do that well. Unless the ground is light and mel low iu the chi. keu run, a dust bath should bo provide 1 iu summer. Watch that grit box aud see that it is always well tilled. Many of the so i ailed cases of cholera came from this one neglect There is no better location for a poultry yard than the orchard. Many a stray worm or bug which might damage the trees furbishes food for the fowls. If yon have a crop o\ millet use some for your scratching shed this wiuter. The hens are fond of the *eed, and get the exercise they require while searchiug for it. The number of penniless men in th« Klondike is oUced at 3000-
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers