Central High School - Brecky Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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cross quafor in an ce ox JASON GEIGER '40 NEW YORK, July 15, 1939: On board the S. S. Uruguay, South America bound, a new utility butcher. Lct's join him for a taste of lite at sea and a visit to Barbados, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and Trinidad. July 15 I woke up about midnight of the 14th. The light was off, but there was someone fumbling at the door. Who in the name of profanity is that? 1 asked, putting my tongue between my teeth to keep them from chattering with fear. All I could hear on that big empty ship was the gentle lap- ping of water on the sides and this mysterious fumbling at the door. Ssh! It's only Joe, said the fumbler thickly through the door. Okay, Come in, I said, switching on the light. Joe walked in. He was tall and had a shock of black hair that now was unkempt and drunk-looking. Yes, even his hair looked drunk! I gathered that he had had my job of utility butcher the last trip, but had been tired because he had been dead drunk fifteen times, which h: acknowledged was a few too many. Then he took his suit case and went out of my life like a light. That was my first real experience of life at sea! About eight hours later, I stood in the galley. feeling every inch a sailor in my dungarees and work-shoes, waiting for my future boss, the chief butcher, whom I hadn't seen yet. Finally I ambled bashfully around to the butcher shop and asked a man there whether he was the chief butcher. He said he was, and I said I was the new utility butcher, all ready for work. And he put me to work all right! We were loading meat for the trip, and I had to take it from the longshoremen and hang it on hooks in the icebox. By some lucky stroke of fortune, I escaped becoming stiff and sore from the un- wonted exe -'se. fAt least now, at ten P. M.. I'm not.j l finished work at five and went ashore to eat supper, but I had to be back on board at eleven to be sure not to miss the ship, which is to sail at midnight. Now it's only a couple of hours until sailing time, and the passengers are begin- ning to come aboard. Everything is chaos, and I'm beginning to get scared. Sunday, July 17 At last life has settled down to what seems to be a rather pleasant routine. We go to work at 6:30 A. M. and work until nine, but we eat breakfast from eight to eight-thirty, so that we work only a couple of hours. Then we are off until 10:30. At that time we either sleep, read, or go on deck to sit in the warm sun and yarn with others who are off now. We work from 10:30 until two, with another half-hour off for lunchg and at two we repeat what we did at 10:30, although at that hour more of the crew are on deck, ready, willing, and anxious to talk. One bell is sounded from the bridge, and back we go to work until eight. Then we all take a shower, and Freddy the Belgic fotherwise. the third butcherj gets drunk or goes to sleepg Trotsky fMorganstern, the sec- ond butcherj goes gallivanting off to visit with some of the pretty stewardesses and suchg and I, Geiger, usually go up into the sailors' mess room to listen to their salt-and-profanity-flavored con- versation. At about ten I go to sleep and make ready to ask for five minutes more when it's time to get up. On the whole, the life of a seaman is pretty good. The day is broken up a good deal, so that time passes quickly. However, in the deck force and black gang it is even better. They work two watches in twenty-four, of four hours each, with eight hours in between, and fifteen minutes' coffee THE REVIEW l7l

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grimly, We won the Yale game. But that Dart- mouth onel Lost my whole month's allowance on that one. Had too much money for a kid my age, anyway. Guess we both did. Never thought I'd live to see the day old 'Spendthrift Spencer' would say those words. They say time changes everything. I guess I've changed with it, said Fred. We both have. They went on talking, in a reminiscent way, forgetful of their present surroundings. They had been very close in college, had roomed together. eaten together, had dates together. They had shared their frequent good luck and their intre- quent bad. After college, they had gone into the stock market as partners. Boy! That was some killing we made in th? fall of '27, said Bill, with a note ot longing. '28 was just about as good. We were smart. In those days one was either a bull or a bear! Not us, though! It was whatever suited our purpose. 'Drive 'em up and sell 'em short l' That was our motto. Too bad we split up. I wonder what ever put the idea into our heads that we could do better alone? It wasn't jealousy. We were never touchy or angry with each other. It must have been just plain restlessness, natural in young men our age, I guess. By the way, what did you do with your share of the partnership ? With a smile. Fred said, I was smart! I put mine in with Sam Insull and his 'Utilities' li' I was smart, too! Mine went into Florida real estate! Say, did you ever get married. as you were always threatening to do ? Yes, I met a swell girl the very week we broke up, met her at a dance and married her three months later. Got a couple of the best kids in the world. Later on this afternoon, I'll take you up to the house to meet the wife and kids. I guess they almost know you now, I've told them so much about you. That's swell. I never did get around to marrying. Kinda wish I had-now. It gets awfully lonesome, living alone. On they talked, covering every minute of every hour of every day, almost, since the last time they had met. Friendships, fun in college, success in business-suddenly they were brought back to earth. Out of a clear sky someone called, Frederick Spencer next. Is Mr. Spencer here? Don't hold up the line. It was the middle-aged woman at the desk. Fred sighed, looked at Bill, and said, I'd for- gotten-for a moment. See you when your turn is over. He walked up to the desk at the far end of the room where the woman, bending over her writing, did not immediately look up. He cleared his throatg she raised her head. Mr. Frederick Spencer? Fred wet his lips and, with a quick glance at Bill, answered, Yes, Your application for W.P.A. has been granted. You will work two and a half days a week at 57.45. Report to Project Number 539, Wilkes and Central Streets. Give this note to the fore- man. Mr. William Sumner next. Is Mr. Sumner here? Don't hold up the line. gyrafiom HELEN DAz '40 Cutting, clipping, Smzbping, snipping, Turning, tipping, Folding, flipping- He is making silhouettes. Tn: Rnvxrw L61

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time each watch. What a life! A notice was put up today, telling about a crew musicale a week from today and requesting ama- teur talent to be prepared. I guess the life of a sailor is even more fun than I thought, except for the hard work. W ednesday, July 20 Today we made Barbados. It looks like the kind of West Indian island you see in the pictures, waving palm trees, white sand beach, cerulean blue water. The crew, for some obscure reason, was not allowed ashore, and we had to get our view of this gem of the Carribean from our an- chorage in the harbor. All we could see were the red roofs of Bridgetown, shining out among palm trees and mountains. I saw plenty of the natives, though. Last night everybody was advised to lock all the doors and keep everything out of reach of the natives. Ap- parently they'll steal anything that isn't screwed down. They come out in bumboats and climb on board to try to sell things to the crew. There are usually three in a boat, the bumboats down there are merely rowboats which the natives rent from a concessionaire on the island. There is a woman, who will dive for coins, eggs, apples, or anything you'll throw into the water, one man or boy, to come on board and try to sell horns mounted on wood, birds carved out of horn, and other such trinketsg and the third person, another boy or man, to ' handle the boat, which he does with amazing skill. Everywhere I went If found that American cigarettes may be used as coin. Since they cost only six cents a package on ships, sailors every- where use them to buy things. Even the beggars ask for American cigarettes instead of money, as they sell down here for about thirty-live cents a package. This morning the crew cook, and everybody on the forward deck at that time had a lot of fun but the First throwing down eggs to the natives, one the cook threw was raw, and it splattered all over the native who tried to catch dived into the water and came up clean. When he climbed back into it. He just smiling and the boat, he yelled up to us in his half-cockney, half-negro English to thrown down some more eggs, but to make them hard-boiled this time. Then we threw him the kind he requested, which he ate on the spot with great relish. Seeing this one native getting all the eggs, other natives came around in bumboats, shoved him good-naturedly out of the Tai-: Rnvrsw l8l way, and asked for eggs for themselves. We kept sending them down, with an occasional raw one to make it interesting, until we tired of the sport and went over to the other side to watch some other natives diving for coins. Most of the Barbadoans seem to be extremely graceful and very well built. The men, though slight of stature, are unusually well-proportioned. Most of the women, judging from the ones in the bumboats, although they may not have been a fair sample of the island belles, are too fat. About five in the afternoon, the passengers were brought back on board in motor launches, and we weighed anchor and steamed slowly away. But just before we started to move away, Big Joe, the head man of the bumboat natives, dived off the boat deck about seventy feet into the water. When he rose to the surface, his battered silk hat was just a brim down around his ears. A moment later, the crown floated to the surface, and Big Joe retrieved it. Then he climbed into the largest bumboat and waved goodbye to us. Wednesday, July 27 i This morning I got up extra early to watch us come into the beautiful harbor of Rio de Janeiro. At about nine this morning I got a chance to go ashore, which I did, still wearing my work clothes. I stared at, and was stared at by, as motley a collection of people as can be found, even in Washington. I This was my first glimpse of South America, except what little I had been able to see of Per- nambuco and its surrounding jungles, when we passed about twenty miles off shore 3' so everyb thing seemed very strange to me. There were hordes of soldiers around, even the school children belong to an organization spon- sored by the government which gives them uni- forms, military training, and three or fourmibreis flifteen or twenty centsj a day. The policemen wore very handsome blue uniforms with white and silver trimmings, topped off by a tropical sun- helmet, a whistle, which sounded like the kind that music teachers use to give the pitch, and perfect misunderstanding, accompanied by a most en- gaging smile. In the afternoon, when I had more time off, I changed into my shore-going clothes and really went for a walk around the town. I got lost, but I didn't mind, because I figured I could always take a cab back to the ship. I walked all the way across to the bay in which the famous Sugar Loaf Mountain rears its cable-car bedecked head.