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POLK rniTVTV NEWS-GAZETTE. BENTON. TENNESSEE Benton Banking Company BENTON, TENN. Capital Stock $25,000 Surplus $5,000 A Designated State Depository J.-' G. NORTON, President A. J. WILLIAMS, Vice President J. D. CLEMMER, Cashier H. W. McCLARY, Asst. Cashier P3AKD5 1 ' 5 14 ill 4 W M v iisrun hr it may sound to every one. A the blut jackets still believe in Santa f CUub. That rctund, rosy-cheeked lit- tie old man pays as much attention to r"W the thousands of boys on board the warsuips as ne ours uivu."- of. perhaj s younger in years, boys and girls abhcre. Instead of coming in a skigh with rtindeer and merry bells. he comes in a precarious-locking boat, fully arm ed and convoyed, with the boom of musketry and the loud blowing of horns. The blowing of horns Is universal custom with the boys of all coun tries &Ld colors and with the bluejackets too. On Christmas day Santy is the highest ranking officer of the fleet, and all Sags are junior to his Tur tree hoisted to the masthead. With his flag lieutenant, his aide and the rest of the staff, he cruises about among the ships distributing the .gifts with which his argosy is laden. His method of doing this is fraught with as much red tape as waa ever the greetings of the old admiral of the Dutch fleet in the time or Queen Bess. All the jiarapbernalia symbolical of austere rank and bounty that can be gotten to gether are used as adorn ments and no end of work is expended on the rig of the fcoat to be used, which Is sometimes the wherry and Moruetimes the punt. In order to hold to the tra ditional custom used in the time of Taul Jones and down through the years, the boat is rigged like a brig, that is, with two masts and yard arms crossing, with jib and ntBysail and ppRnker out astern. On the fore and aft er quarters they arrange large wooden tubes, in which are inserted small arms. 'These "spiggoty guns" com- pose the saluting battery and heavy main battery also, and are manned and fired by the boatswain of "Der Prosit," who is a ponderous man in his official garb and daring in the way he approaches the ships, whose crews throng the sides and an gwer the salute with a revolver shot from the poop. The saluting takes place before "Der Prosit" Is within hailing distance, and all hands have a laugh 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 Rets up in the bows and resting one hand almost on top of the foremast and lifting a megaphone as long as himself to his lips, calls out at the top of his voice,, "Ship, ahoy!" The quartermaster answers from the bridge, "Hello, hello! Der Prosit?" "Aye, aye," the boatswain returns. "Come alongside," calls the quartermaster. Then the admiral of "Der Prosit" rises in the stern, ome ten feet aft of the boatswain in the bow, hia head on a level with the topmast, and bawls out through his megaphone, "All hands fur-r-1 sail," With that the crew, consisting of one man, who also acts In the capacity of foghorn, gets amid ships and climbs the mainmast, which sways to and fro as if about to capsize the entire craft, and pulls down all ttfe sails. "The vessel is standing 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 atern sheets at the tiller. All these orders are given and carried out in the most .solemn man ner, to the merriment of the Bhio's crew looking on from the rail above. 1 ' 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 fianta 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 argosy 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 meets the admiral of "Der Prosit," his wife, Santy, laden with a huge basket full of presents,' the boatswain and the crew, while the bugler Bounds three portentioue ruffles and the ship's company, assembled aft, stands at attention. In deed the offlsws are all present, for they believe in Santy as well as do the crew. When the ad miral's wife, seme fair faced sailor with Manila rope hair and a tawdry skirt, swings aboard hold ing her train high and exposing a generous vlew of red stocking to the eyes of the sailors, a great laugh is evoked and' a shout goes up, "higher, higher," or "Oh, you Kiddo!" The boatswain in command of the crew shouts to his one man for, "Attention!" then puts him through a series of gynmastics of a peculiar and intensely funny character. The admiral, as if not thoroughly taking in the landscape, lifts a ' huge pair of binoculars in the form of two quart wine bottles lashed together, to his eyes and makes a pretense of getting his bearings by scrutinizing the sailors about him. Presently he reports to Santy, who has -deposited his basket of presents on the quarter deck, "Sir, I see we are now in the Cannibal isles." Santy begins then to pick up presents and read the names aloud, giving them to the crew of "Der Prosit" and the admiral's wife, and even ta the admiral himself, who distributes them accord ingly, cutting many ridiculous capers. The presents are of a type that bring laughter. They are gotten up and made by the friends of those to whom they are sent, with an idea to wards characterizing the ambition, the whim or the standing jokes that mark the receiver. If 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 his dose, as Santy is supreme on Christmas day. But the greatest gift that Santy can bestow falls to the lot of those who, through some mis fortune or slip, have come in line for punishment. It is customary for Santy to walk boldly up to the captain and ,ask him to "whitewash" the books. In the face of everybody and on Christ mas day the captain can not very well refuse this request, although some captains have been seen to wince and cough before granting tne immeas- no urable favor. The report book, in which all pun- feed Ishable acts are entered, is swspt clean and the culprits are reinstated tu first-class standing and enjoy all the privileges held by their more for tunate shipmates who have not fallen before the multiplicity of temptations that daily assail the man-o'-warsman. The event which forms a background for all this merriment is the regular "big feed,", as the sail ors call it. For the last week this has crept into their conversation. Pie, turkey and plum duff are the three great delicacies to the sailors, and they have more respect for them than for the three graces. "What kind of a feed is the commissary gonna hand us?" one sailor 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 satisfaction of every one who eats at the general mess. There 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 lieutenant (first luff) settles the matter in favor ol 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 mesa attendants. It Is far from an enjoyable affair with them, although they are an affable lot. The. preparatio; of the potatoes is the worK n dozen men. since tney miiPt be extraordinarily nice. The "skinners" arrange themselves astride a bench in range of a tub where one man sits and tosses potatoes continually. The tub is kept full by another man who dumps in from a sack carried down from the upper deck. So a cycle is made, the clean peeled potatoes going con etantly into another tub, which is dragged into the gal ley and dumped into a great throuch whicn water is percolating. These are rins mA a mil Tin bv another mesa attendant and dumped into other urns where steam is turned on, while an other tub of peeled ones are being brought from the skinners. , fc,m..,. When they are done the ships cook himself, who paces to and fro in the galley all the while, mounts upon the nearest urn with his, and tak ing a great six-foot masher proceeds to pound them intd a white flakey mass fit for a king. Buf this is not all he has to do. either. The turkeys are browning in the long ovens and he and his three 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 so that eacn 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 hirn 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 sailors, who seem only restrained from eating each other alive by the flimsy, vacillating boards which support the too When these ravenous appetites have been iotH ..d those who have the dilating pow ers 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 turkeys nor anything else ni ior me um in cup, sbv nil) Pete the sailmake'r'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 y' busted 'em with the handle 've yer knife they went whlmty nifty every direction under yer piate, oenina yer n ver eipeve and around tne meBs pans. But! mates, that was a ChriBtmas fer yer life! We couldn't eat the buffalo meat, it' was mat mucn like bolt rope, so we drunk or coffee and engaged ourselves in bug races down the table. By tryin' all the bugB out we got some speedy ones. And they was speedy. I had one that could trot down that table trot, mind yVHke it was Maude S 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. I bet big money on 'er, though, and after loosin' 20 bones by her duckin' out of it when she was tvnp whole plate lengths ahead, mind y'. I flggered I could head her off the next time and win anyhow, so 1 put up BO bones BO good cold plunkers on that skinny little runt of a bug, and strike me blind! you ought a Been that race! Go! That cuBsed little bug slid down that mess table like It was on ball bearings. 1 headed 'er off at the hole with a piece of tack and she run clean again the bot tom board of the table an' butted 'er brains out. kicked over on Vr back Btone dead. But that race! Whew! I raked in the coin from the cap tain of the hold ChrUtmun! Well, strike nie, fel lers! That was iome Chrletmas even If wt didn't have any eats." BACKED BY REAL ESTATE WORTH OVER $500,000 00. DIRECTORS. J. G. Norton, W. P. Scarborough, T. I Lowery. C. W. Gamble, A. J. Williams, R. W. Clemmer, B. B. C. Witt, J. L. Taylor, F. T. Harrison. We pay 3 per cent on three month and 4 per cent, on Bix-month Urn deposits. . Cleveland National Bank, Cleveland. Tenn. . .... ...UO0' iURPLUS AND PROFIT...... JSflS YOOKOU!l LIABILITY., .JJJw VOTAL RKrOK1ILITY ... t - , OFFICER! - a7.hn.to.. want. w- l ioU" , Frank J. B.rl.. Ca.hl... 1 HTTMMT PA,0 OH ePMIAL UiW. COU INVITO ' .MOIAL ATTENTION TO OUR MAIL SWUTMENT. DON'T PUT IT OFF; INSURE TO DAY NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE CO. T,r,r.:o?:i TESTABLE FROM DATE OF IBBUE. ADDRESS. I T. B MoKINNEY, 8boIbI Agin, " KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE. I FOR FI RST-CL ASS LIVERY -OO TO- 'JASPER CEWTER CALL ON HIM. DUCKTOWN. TENNESSEE. 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