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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1904)
R, " 'WR Rf;4.H :R--. AR -S GOiVPb -iriLr.i"-- : J 1 1 ,v'f& R .. f "cr h r- 1 wo-m Xhm Wl " ftTOKKRS HARD AT WOTIK IN TJTF1 KOII.KIl 11UOM OK AN OCEAN . BTKAMEK. (Copyright. 190i by William Thorp.) I life and work of the modern I atonmvltfn nnirlnioF 'I' Vi n ! roinancp, too, In the Ftokehold the liint place In which the lands man would look for It AVI.cn a wa'ch of firemen and trimmer or "Kokeru" us tha world nnhore tails them have a lazy t!ma In port, they pln rnuiiKh yarns In half an hour to supply a buy writer of fiction with plots for a lifetime. Here are some typical Morlus: Burao years ago tTiere was a little steam ship In the West Indian trade which car ried six negro stokers. One fine day, when the sea was almost as smooth as eIuhh, this vessel turned turtle and went to the bottom, a few miles off the coast of one of the lHlands. Bho had put to sou with a heavy list to starboard, caused by a big: dcckload of coal and orunges. The crew managed to cut a boat adrift and drop her overboard with two men, when the ship wua nuinlfeHtly Hlnkliig. Bho went on for a mile ahead of the boat at full speed beforo she sank, and every ono of thorns stokers kept at his post, al though they could hardly retain their foot ing on the sloping iron floor of the bunk ers. The skipper had to run down to order them up, and several of them actually lipped Into tho water over the bilge keel of tho ship, as It was In the act of turning turtle. One man was caught In the propeller and killed, but tho others were picked up by the boat, after waiting wearily for half an hour with several big sharks around them. They returned to the port which they had left a few hours before, and the agent Of tho steamship expressed great admira tion of their pluck and coolness. See here, sir," said the skipper. "Thefe men have lout all their kit, and word won't do 'em much good. CouUn't the llrm give 'em a new outllt?" "I'm afraid the firm wouldn't stand for It," replied the agent, "but I will, any how," and he scribbled an order to a local Clothier: "Let these men have what they require and charge It to me." He ex pected, of course, that they would each get an ordinary stoker's kit and let him out of tho business for ubout $50. But when those five brawny negroes were given that precious piece of paper they saw that the chance of their lives had come. They had a grudge against the firm, any way, for they believed the ship had been Bent to sea to sink and earn Insurance money. So they determined to get even. They inarched into the store and nn nounced that the flrBt things they required were five evening dress suits. The pro prietor looked astonished, but the agent's order was good enough, and he saw no ob jection to making money. On the contrary, he hastened to show them his finest linen shirts, lila most gorgeous silk neckties and Shiniest patent leather boots. They , or dered quantities of each article, several auits of expensive clothing, elegant toilet ets, silk pajamas, tine underwear, numer ous pairs of gloves and all the appurte nances qf a modern l!eu Drummers ward robe. When they could think of nothing more In clothes, they bought tho five most ex penhlve leather bags In the store, packed their purchases In them, and then, arrayed In plug hats and frock coals, m:irched down to the agent's ofllce to thank him for Ms kindness. Of course, the agent was furious, and he refused to pay the bill, which amounted to neveral hundred dollars. The clothier brought suit and compelled him to do so, the Judge still further harrying hln feelings by telling him that if he had wrlttsn "what they need" Instead of "what they require" he could not have bnen held liable. Many men who have "seen better days" &5i romance, too, In the stokehold- ' ' "--JT.. -V '- VI Tales Told by liiT'fisniMMiMtim hi tw rTZi'iVfj. THE STARBOARD FORECASTLES, are to be found In the republic of the stokehold. "I remember," said a trimmer on a big Atlantic liner, "once sailing with a crew of firemen and trimmers which Included an ex-captaln of the British army, a young London newspaper man who was out for experience and got It; a lawyer who had been disbarred, and several other men who were obviously of good birth and educa tion, but would tell nothing about their antecedents. As a rule, the engineers don't like such a crew. They drink worse than the ordinary hands, they cannot work so hard, and they won't knucklj under to d s clpline. "Years ngo, when I served on a liner plying to the far east, there was a young Englishman with me as a trimmer. We went several voyages together to tho same port tho principal town of an Important British colony. He was plainly a gentle man, but he stuck to his work well and never went on a spree. He liked to look around foreign towns, but I noticed that whenever we lay In that particular British port he never went ashore. Ho would not even go on deck, unless ho was obliged to do so, preferring to stay In his bunk all day. "This was such unusual conduct for a trimmer that I nsked him what his motive was. He muttered that he had his reasons, so I left him alone, supposing that he had committed some crime In that town and was afraid he would be arrested if he Sideboards Again in Favor KTER the sideboard has been ban ished from fashionable dining rooms for several years, it is to return to favor, and tho low buf fet that took Its place is to be retired. In small families the buffet answers all needs, but in large households, where there is much entertaining, it is inconvenient. At breakfast tlmo the maid or butler most prepare tho coffee or boll Iho eggs there. Most families nowadays have a coffec maklng machine, and the Fervlng of eggs direct from the fire Is an Innovation from English households. At lunch (line tha cold roast Joint must be served from the sideboard, and at dinner time the wine or dessert, so the butler requires space for hit , operations. In families that make small claim to elegance, the sideboard Is a con venient place on which to leave duties when a rapid change in courses is to bo made. Mahogany, oak and walnut are the woods generally used In tho making of the new dining room furniture. Formerly It was correct to have a matched set for the din ing room. This Is no longer the rule. If all the furniture Is of the same kind of wood, wide latitude is permitted In the re lectlon of the various pieces. Tho mw s'de boards are low and narrow and hava a B ni ple cabinet In which a mirror Is sot. Draw ers and cupboards are provided for the silver and the linen, and these are divided Into convenient compartments. The drisser will probably take the plaoe of the sideboard In some families, for It has the advantages of the latter and the conveniences of a cabinet. Dr ssers may be classed among the specimens of furni ture so old that Ihey are practically new to. the present generation. Until recently the Stokers ;-sL iffi 3LMrtwlngi 'I WHKRR THE STOKERS BUNK. went ashore. "Next lime we visited that port, the gov ernor of the colony and his wife came aboard to bid goodby to their daughter, who was sailing with us to England to finish her education. "The second engineer sent the young Englishman onto the wharf with a mes sage to the dock superintendent. Going down the gangway, he met tho governor and his party. That distinguished old gentleman a famous British general turned pale and Fta'cJ at h'm as If he we-e a ghost. Then he gripped that grimy trim mer by the hand and cried, "By Ood, It's Harry!' The women hung around him and began to cry, and before 1 could grasp what was happening they had hustled him Into a carriage and driven him oft to Gov ernment house. "The governor talked to our skipper and fixed things up so that the young fellow didn't return to the stokehold. But on our next voyage he traveled with us as a first-class passenger. After dinner one evening ho met me on the deck and told mc that he was the governor's only son. "He had been sent to Sandhurst to train for the British army, but was expelled for throwing an obnoxious tutor Into a horse pond. He dared not face his father, who was a fine old soldier, with stern Ideas of discipline, so he tried his luck for him self, and ultimately drifted Into our stoke hold. Now all was forgiven and he was going to England to bother the colonial they have not been seen outside collections of antique furniture. A handsome dresser of weathered oak la made with a cabinet in three compart ments. The lower one has a long plate rack and contains hooks for cups. Tha second tier consists of a central glass cup board for special pieces of china. Other niches are also designed for the reception of china. The body of tho dresser la raised six inches from the floor on carved supports. One end of the body is portioned off as a receptacle for silverware. The other end contains three drawers in which linen may be stored. The handles of the drawers and the hinges and locks of the cupboards are of oxidized metal. Antique sideboards decorated with Inlay or Intarsla, as .It is called, are no ve' ties. Intarsla is a new feature of furniture deco ration, or rather an obsolete form which Is being revived. It may be seen on late specimens of the more expensive furniture, such as a rosewood boudoir set. Inlay Is to wood what mosaic work Is to marble and gl iss. Sometimes the in'ays are known as marquetry when to tolse shell, ebony, mother-of-pearl and shell are iued. The designs include figures, flower plants and birds. Often the pattern are tinted and occasionally they are developed by using different grains of the wood. A rosewood cabinet for china Is a new piece that has much of the me: it of the old masterpieces. TullpB, with their foliage, are inlaid in a manner wonderfully artistic. The Intarsla la applied In a broad band to the drawers, and in narrow ones to tho frame of the glass doors. Pretty tables in mahogony are scarcely less pleasing than the cabinet, while an ebony desk inlaid with motbttr-of-peiXl U a beautiful reproduction. inn ii n-.. tf-k TnrM"MTTRS WTTO STTOVBT, THE COAC 1XWN TO THE STOKERS. office for a commission In some colonial police force. He is now the administrator in charge of one of the smaller British colonies In the Pacific." A pretty English girl was the belle of a Pacific and Orient liner on a voyage out to Bombay. Ono iay as they were sailing through the Mediterranean she went to tho captain In deep distress and offered to pay the passage money for a certain one of tho firemen If the captain would transfer him from the stokehold to the first salon. As tonished beyond measure, the captain re fused, saying It would be contrary to ail discipline. Tluen the girl confessed that he was a former lover, a man of good family, but poor. They had been cng.iged to be mar ried, but the engagement was broken oft because, in a lovers' tiff, she said to him: "You live on your father now and yon want to live on me after wc are married." The young man thereupon set out to earn his own living and "roughed It" for a couple of years. Then he became a flro man on the very ship In which his former sweetheart was a passenger. She saw him on deck one evening, when he had come up for a breath of fresh air after his exhaust ing work In the bowels of the vessel. After this explanation the cnptaln agreed to have him brought to the salon; but tho young man declined to leave his stoking and persisted In treating his former sweet heart with the distant respect which stok ers are supposed to show toward passen gers. The girl tried In vain to win him back to her, and by the time the ship reached Aden she was nearly heartbroken. Going ashore there for a walk, she man aged to offend the religious fanaticism of some Mohammedan pilgrims who were traveling from India to Mecca. They mobbed her, and for a moment her Ufa was in danger, but the stoker, who hai also gone ashore, rushed into the thick of the mob and saved her. What happened after that nobody knew except the lovers, but they evidently mad up their quarrel. She returned to the ship, radiantly happy. He went back to tho stokehold for the rest of the voyage, but at Bombay they left the ship together and were married within a couple of hours by special license, the skipper giving the bride away. Many stories are told among sallormen of the heroism and coolness displayed by stok ers In the moment of danger. When pert! comes to a man in th vitals of a btg steamshtp It comes with a rush. He has no time to "screw up his courage." Unless he keeps it always screwed up he fails miserably. Stokers rarely fall. The Prince Victor, a tramp steamship, which used to be well known in the West Indian fruit trade, was nearly cut In two by a liner in the English channel soma years ago. The stem of the liner struck tho ill-fated vessel at right angles, cut two thirds through it, as if it were cheese, and then stuck. The stokehold was penetrated by th stem. Some of the stokers were killed by the Impact, others by the rush of boiling; water and steam from the smashed boil ers. Only three escaped to the deck, and two of them Insisted on rushing back to the stokehold to see if they could rescue any of their mates. The stem was grinding up and down, half way across the hold, and the steam and hot water tortured them horribly, yet they persisted until they brought up one man. They went down again and neither of them returned. The ship sank a few minutes later. This Is a typical story of the heroism of the stoker, and It could be paralleled a hundred times. But their bravery is usually of the far harder kind, which simply stick to routine duty In the face of death. Stokers can generally be depended on to keep the fires going In the engine room, even when they know that the shlfi la ta momentary danger of sinking.