McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, March 25, 1937, Image 6
McCORMICK MESSENGER. McCORMICK. S. C.. THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1937
Adventurers’
Club
it
99
When the Sea Came In
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter
J T HAPPENED a long time ago, but maybe some of you still
remember the wreck of the U. S. cruiser Memphis in San
Domingo harbor August 29, 1916.
Do you remember how, caught in the disturbance set up by a sub
marine volcano, battered by a series of tidal waves, she was tossed
against the cliffs of a rockbound shore and smashed to pieces in the
short space of an hour and a half?
But we’re going to have the story of the Memphis told by
a man who never saw those waves—by a man who saw the Mem
phis disaster from the spot where the REAL battle was fought.
We're going to hear about the wreck as it was seen by the boys
down in the engine room, where some of the most heroic deeds
of that historic affair were done.
Charles H. Willey, warrant machinist, United States Navy retired,
of Concord, N. H., is the Distinguished Adventurer of today’s column.
Ordered Below to Get Up Steam.
Charley was in his stateroom reading when, without any warning,
the ship rolled over at an alarming angle. At the same time the order
came for the emergency watch to go below and get the ship under way.
When Charley got below his men were already going about their
duties. The steam was up in only two boilers. The job now was to
raise it in the other four so the ship could get under way. For, until she
under way, the Memphis would be at the mercy of the raging seas.
The waves, which had been mere heavy swells at first, were
getting higher every minute. The ship rocked alarmingly, but
inside of ten minutes steam was forming in four boilers and
the men in the engine rooms were warming up the engines with
steam from the two live boilers.
Firemen All Worked Desperately.
“There was a fireman at every one of those boilers, working des
perately to force it,’’ says Charley. “The ship kept pitching and heav
ing. Us poor devils down there couldn’t see the waves, but we knew
we were in their grip.
“Over the voice tube from the engine room came the cry of ‘STEAM
—Give us steam.’
“And the steam, thank God, was rising fast. The gauges were show
ing pressure, but we had to get it to at least 200 pounds. Even 250
would have been little enough in an emergency like this one.”
The steam was on the way up. Navy efficiency and discipline were
doing their work.
In another few moments the engines would be turning.
And then—SUDDENLY—another violent lurch of the ship and
a deluge from above. Water—sea water—COMING DOWN THE
VENTILATORS.
Engines Stopped, Fourteen Men Killed.
Says Charley: “We knew what that meant. The ship was broad
side to the waves and those waves were sweeping clean over us. Now
water began coming down the smoke stacks, putting out our fires just
when we were nearing victory.
“We cut in the four boilers on the main steam line. The engines
were turning slowly, but how they ate up the steam!
“A sudden lurching pitch—a sickening pounding of the ship on the
bottom, and then, with a roar the 14-inch main steam line burst in the
port engine room killing seven men and stopping the engine.
“There is a mad rush to close the stop valve. Water—tons of
it—still pouring down the stacks! Steam hisses from strained
boiler tubes. The lights go out. The dynamos have been shorted
by sea water and we are left in darkness!”
Forced to Abandon Stations.
And still those gallant firemen in the engine room of the Memphis
stuck to their posts trying to get up steam. There was bedlam every
where below decks.
Slice bars, hoes, coal buckets were sloshing around the room with
every roll and toss of the ship.
And yet, in the flickering light of the fires, the men were trying
to get up steam.
There was another crash—A DEAFENING ROAR OF ESCAPING
STEAM
“And then,” says Charley, “I knew we were gone. In another
minute she had struck again and the boilers let go at their tube
joints.
“I yelled: ‘Abandon stations. Every man for himself.’
“I tried to get to the air lock—stumbled and fell into sea water that
was coming in through the ship’s bottom. Live steam was filling the
room. , . , ,
“I ripped off my jumper, soaked it and wrapped it around my head.
How Willey Escaped the Inferno.
“I heard agonized screams from the men who had gone up the
ladder ahead of me—up over those hot, hellish, steam-twisted boilers
to what they thought was safety in the uptake passage. -
“Somehow God gave me strength to reach them in the uptake.
Steam had risen there first and they were trapped in it.
“They were breathing it. It was searing their flesh and their lungs
and cutting them down before they could open the heavy iron door.
“I kept my wet jumper over my face and reached the door. Fran
tically I worked at the dogs that clamped it shut. At last I got it open
—dragged out some of those dying men—”
And then Charley lost consciousness. He awoke TWO WEEKS later
in the Naval hospital in Washington—to learn that he was the only one
of that brave fireroom crew of his that had lived!
It was a whole year before Charley was out of the hospital. Now he
lives in retirement on a little inland farm in New England. A few years
ago he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
“Yet,” says Charley, “I have never worn it, for somehow I feel I
am unworthy of it. Those men who stuck by me down there in that black
inferno till the last—they were the real heroes. THEY PAID WITH
THEIR LIVES.”
C—WNU Service.
Arlington National Cemetery
rlington National Cemetery was
tituted by an act of congress for
interment of United States sol-
rs and sailors who have fallen in
tie, or all men and women who
e died in the regular or volun-
: military or naval service of the
ted States, after having been
stered out or honorably dis-
rged. The presentation of the
imission warrant, letter of ap-
itment, certificate of discharge,
pension certificate, provided
re were no dishonorable charges
nected therewith, is sufficient
fence for interment.
The Isle of Pines
rhe Isle of Pines has an area of
80 square miles and a population
5,000. It is located about 50
les south of Cuba, erf which it is
part. The land is virtually all
ned by Americans. The chief
ms are Nueva, Gerona and Sante
The island produces citrus
lits, pineapples and potatoes. Cat
raising is the chief industry.
Facing the Music
The origin of the expression “fac
ing the music” isn’t definitely
known, though the expression ap
pears to have come from military
sources. Three attempts at expla
nation—the first of them the most
likely—attribute its origin to: (1)
The drumming out of men dis
missed from the army; (2), the
mustering of militiamen, who are
drawn up in ranks facing the band;
(3), the difficulty in training army
horses to remain quiet when placed
near a regimental band. Another
suggestion is that the phrase is de
rived from the situation of the actor,
who, when before the orchestra, is
facing his critics also.
“Spice,” Not Tree Name
“Spice” is not a tree name. It is
a classification name used to de
scribe one or more of a group of
aromatic substances. Just as the
word “vegetable” and “grain” are
names of classifications, describing
one or a number of things in a
special class.
UNCOMMON
AMERICANS
By Elmo
Scott Watson
© Western
Newspaper
Union
She Modeled Lincoln
T N THE rotunda of the United
* States Capitol at Washington
stands a statue of Abraham Lin
coln. Among all the sculptured like
nesses of the Great Emancipator
this one is unique. It is the only
one which was modeled from life
and it is the work of a young girl.
Vinnie Ream was her name and
she was born in Wisconsin in 1847.
As a girl she amused herself by
sketching the Indians whom she saw
when her father, a surveyor, took
her with him on his trips in the
West. They were crude sketches
but an old Italian who saw them
recognized her latent talent and en
couraged her.
When she was fourteen her father
secured a position for her as a copy
ist in the post office department
at $50 a month. She became ac
quainted with Clark Mills, the fa
mous sculptor, and while watching
him at work, exclaimed, “Oh, I
could do that if I had some clay!”
Mills told her to help herself and
he was delighted with the progress
which she made.
Then Vinnie Ream conceived the
idea of modeling President Lincoln
from life. When this was first sug
gested to him he refused, but after
talking to the girl and becoming
impressed with her earnestness,
he gave his consent with the under
standing that she was to come to
the White House every afternoon
during his rest period. She was not
to talk and he was to sit, walk, or
lie dowT> to take a nap, as his
mood dictated.
So for five months she spent part
of every afternoon in his study. As
he lay on the couch she took life
masks of his face and hands. As
he walked about or sat at his desk,
she sketched his figure again and
again.
After Lincoln’s assassination con
gress decided to erect a statue in
his memory and asked sculptors to
submit sketches. Many famous art
ists responded but the work of this
sixteen-year-old girl was the one se
lected. In 1869 congress advanced
her $5,000 and she went abroad to
study and complete the statue.
After nearly two years of steady
work she finished it and it was un
veiled in 1871. When the statue was
placed in the rotunda of the Capi
tol an old servant who had lived
in the White House exclaimed “the
real Lincoln has returned to us.”
Vinnie Ream later married Lieut.
Richard L. Hoxie but continued her
work as a sculptor until her death
in 1914. She made many other stat
ues and modeled medallions and
busts of many notables, both here
and abroad. But she is best re
membered as the only sculptor who
ever modeled Lincoln from life and
the pioneer woman sculptor of
America.
Soldier-Painter
TF YOU think of a painter as an
1 impractical idealist, revise that
view before applying it to Charles
Willson Peale. Born in Maryland in
1741 he was apprenticed to a sad
dler at the age of thirteen and was
such a good workman that he won
his freedom by the time he was
twenty. Then he went into busi
ness for himself and later formed a
partnership with a chaisemaker
who promptly absconded with all
of the firm’s money. To get out of
debt Peale next tried clock and
watch making and set himself up
as a silversmith.
Becoming interested in painting,
Peale took lessons from a Swedish-
American artist and paid for them
with a saddle which he had made.
Next he spent two years studying
under Copley in Boston and then
went to England to learn more
from the famous Benjamin West.
Returning to this country a few years
before the Revolution, he be
gan painting portraits of Colonial
celebrities, one of which was des
tined to make him famous. It was
the picture of a young colonel in
the Virginia militia named George
Washington.
At the outbreak of the Revolu
tion Peale, who was an ardent pa
triot, organized a company of mi
litia and became a captain. For the
next three years he mixed painting
and soldiering, winning distinction
in both. Next he went into poli
tics and in 1779 and 1780 served as
a member of the Pennsylvania as
sembly.
After the war, Peale gathered to
gether all of the portraits of Revo
lutionary leaders he had painted
including several of Washington
and started a picture gallery in
his home, which was so popular
that he had to seek larger quarters.
In 1802 he opened the famous Peale
museum on the second floor of In
dependence hall. There he exhib
ited not only his paintings but also
a remarkable collection of natural
history specimens he had collected.
At the age of eighty-one Peale
turned from portraiture to paint re
ligious pictures. When he died in
1827 he left behind him a collection
of 269 portraits and historical
scenes as a memorial to one of
America’s greatest painters and
also one of her most versatile
geniuses.
Twas This Way
By LYLE SPENCER
© Western Newspaper Union.
Barbershop Harmony
A BOUT 3,000 years ago, a court
barber was trimming the beard
of the famous King Archclaus.
“How shall I cut it, sire?” he
asked.
“In silence,’’'thundered the king.
The silence that then ensued is the
last ever known to have occurred in
g barber shop.
Barbering establishments of one
kind or another have served as gos
sip centers from time immemorial.
They once were far more important
than they are today. Up until the
time of the French revolution, bar
bers not only cut hair but pulled
teeth and performed surgical oper
ations as well. Many a man boasted
that he could “breathe a vein” as
well as he could mow a beard.
In fact, the barber’s pole is a
hangover from the days when the
town barber was also its surgeon.
The two spiral ribbons painted
around the pole represent the band
ages used to bind up the wounds of
patients. In those days, barbers used
the same instruments for shaving as
for surgical work. Customers were
asked whether they preferred to be
shaved with a carving knife or a pen
knife.
In addition to that, barbers during
the middle ages often held shaving
competitions. Old records say that
Robert Hardie of England still holds
the all-time quick-shaving mark. Hr
once won a $2,500 bet by shaving
six men in one minute and 29 sec
onds. He claimed to be able to shave
one man, no matter how harsh his
beard, in 12 seconds. He could also
do the job blindfolded, with a carv
ing knife, in 45 seconds.
Selling at Auction
HE auction sale seems to be as
old as mankind. We know thatj
it was used at least 4,000 years ago
by the Babylonians as a means of
securing wives for eligible young
men.
According to an account handed
down to us by Herodotus, the girls
of a marriageable age were directed
to go each year to the auction mart,
where the young men also congre-i
gated. There they were sold by the
public crier. The pretty girls were
put up first and sold to the highest
bidder.
This system was really not quite
as bad as it sounds. Many a young
man who could not afford to pur
chase a pretty girl was bribed to
marry an ugly one, and the pur
chase money obtained for the beau
ties was distributed among the
homely ones, according to their de
gree of homeliness. So many an
ambitious young man picked up a
small fortune with which he could
establish his own business as well
as a home.
Another feature of these primitive
auctions was that the father could
not choose the man who was to buy
his daughter. It was strictly an open
market. The girls in their turn were,
also safeguarded by requiring the
purchasers to marry them on the
spot. But after the sale, if the young
lady did not turn out to his liking,
the law provided that the customen
could return her and get his money
back.
As Good as Mother’s Biscuits
IT' ING HENRY II, of France, was
making a tour through the
provinces one year with his court.
Ordinarily a gluttonous eater, Hen
ry’s appetite had been very poor
lately, and he desired a new dish
to tickle his jaded palate. So he
ordered the village baker to con
coct for him a cake that was not
only delicious but unknown to the
rest of the world.
That put the poor baker squarely
on the spot. If he failed, the king,
who had a violent temper, might
throw him in jail or even order
his head chopped off. If he
succeeded, on the other hand, he
would probably be handsomely re
warded. He repaired himself to his
kitchen and went furiously to work.
He mixed flour, sugar, and milk in
every conceivable way he knew, but
the harder he tried, the worse the
mixture tasted. In despair, he finally
threw down his ladles and went over
to the nearest saloon to drown his
sorrows.
In his absence, his apprentice re
turned to the bake house from an
errand, and found the dough on the
mixing table. The master, who had
become lost among his wine glasses,
did not return, and the boy, fearing
the dough would spoil, moulded
them into little cakes and popped
them into the oven.
He was just taking them out of
the oven when his boss came reeling
back into the bakery.
“What the—have you done with
my dough?” he stormed.
“I made them into little cakes,
and baked them twice,” (bis-cuits)
said the lad. They turned out to be
delicious. The king was greatly
pleased, and in a short time the
bis-cuit became the nationa 1 cake
of France, as it still is today.
William, Mary College Hall
The main hall of William and
Mary College, of Williamsburg, Va.,
was designed by Sir Christopher
Wren, architect of London’s St.
Paul’s Cathedral.
A ND the girl holding the
curtains back, just
looking on, might be join
ing the fun except for her
misconception that “party”
clothes are hard to sew.
She made the neat sweet
house model she’s wearing
with no trouble at all—but—
And Here’s the Story.
Marge, did you really
make your pretty dress all
yourself? It looks so elab
orate; I’d be afraid to cut
into chiffon like that for
fear I’d ruin it.”
“Be yourself, Rose. It doesn’t
take a bit more skill to make my
dress than yours. The pattern ex
plains everything. You can’t go
wrong. I get a double kick out of
making a party frock—I feel im
portant sewing it and elegant wear
ing it. I couldn’t begin to have
so many party clothes if I didn’t
belong to The-Sew-Your-Own! ’ ’
Mother Made Daughter’s Dress.
“Joanie, dear, aren’t you begin
ning this party business pretty
young?”
“No, Auntie Rose, of course not.
I’ve another one just like it that
Grandma made for me. It’s red
and it has blue bands around it.
I’m going to wear it to school
tomorrow.
“Well, I see where I’ve got to
get some silks and crepe, pluck
up my nerve, and have clothes
like other people. I wanted to
join the Jolly Twelve but I just
felt I didn’t have anything to
wear. Now I’ve decided to join
The Sewing Circle and make a
real fashion debut, come Spring!”
The Patterns.
Pattern 1237 is for sizes 34 to
46. Size 36 requires 4% yards of
35 inch material plus five-eighths
of a yard contrasting.
Pattern 1241 is cut in sizes 14
Unde PkllQ
J&Gjjji:
Your Work at Hand
Look to tomorrow and plan for
tomorrow — but don’t forget to
work today.
The people are not so often
“fooled” as it seems. They’re in
different.
If you find that life is trying,
do a little trying yourself.
Pleasures are the commas that
punctuate life’s sad story.
Hold on to the Handrail
Friendship is the handrail up
the stairway of life.
Grouchy folks are sincere in
this: They do not try to hide their
bad temper. But that makes them
no more likable.
Happiest housewife is one who
has just made a noble pudding
when her husband has unexpect
edly brought a friend home to
dinner.
Which Kind Have You?
One kind of temperament stands
aside and scorns the human race,
another kind tries to see what
can be done to better it.
You never can tell. An exploded
theory doesn’t always wake up the
theorist.
One likes as a friend an optimist
with a strong peppery flavor of
pessimism in his makeup.
Scandal is the devil’s merry-go-
round.
That Is a Friend
A true friend will multiply your
joys and divide your sorrows.
Haste makes waste, it is true,
but not like extravagance.
A black sheep is sophisticated;
you can’t pull the wool over his
eyes.
Future grandpas will tell more
about the hard times of this era
than about the “good old days.”
He is a poor fighter who permits
an idea to strike him when he if
off his guard.
to 20 (32 to 44 bust). Size 16 re
quires 4% yards of 39 inch ma
terial, and 1% yards of ribbon
for the belt together with 3 yards
of machine made trimming.
Pattern 1852 comes in sizes 2 to
8 years. Size 4 requires 2% yards
of 35 or 39 inch material. To trim
as pictured 6 yards of ribbon ars
required.
New Pattern Book.
Send for the Barbara Bell
Spring and Summer Pattern
Book. Make yourself attractive^
practical and becoming clothes,
selecting designs from the Bar
bara Bell well-planned easy-to
rn ake patterns. Interesting and
exclusive fashions for little chil
dren and the difficult junior age?
slenderizing, well-cut patterns for
the mature figure; afternoon
dresses for the most particular
young women and matrons and
other patterns for special occa
sions are all to be found in the
Barbara Bell Pattern Book. Send
15 cents (in coins) today for your
copy.
Send your order to The Sewing
Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1020,
211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, m.
Patterns 15 cents (in coins) each,
© Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
10$
WORLD’S LARGEST
pSELLER AT
St.Joseph to////?
Lost Virtues
Virtues lose themselves in self-
interest, as streams lose them
selves in the sea.—Rochefoucauld,
Do something about
Periodic Pains
Take Cardiff for functional pains
of menstruation. Thousands of wom
en testify It has helped them. It
Cardul doesn’t relieve your monthly
discomfort, consult a physician.'
Don’t just go on suffering and put
off treatment to prevent the trouble.
Besides easing certain pains, Oar-
dul aids in building up the whole
system by helping women to get
more strength from their food.
Cardul la a purely vegetable medicine
which you can buy at the drug store and
take at home. Pronounced “Card-u-L'*
Our Allies
Good manners and soft words
have brought many a difficult
thing to pass.—Aesop.
SMALL SIZE
60c
LARGE SIZE
$1.20
JA recognized Remedy for Rbeemetk'
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