A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee": From the Diary of Number Five of the After Port Gun (Russell Doubleday): The Yarn of the Cruise and Fights of the Naval Reserves in the Spanish-American WarDoubleday, Russell
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A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee": From the Diary of Number Five of the After Port Gun (Russell Doubleday): The Yarn of the Cruise and Fights of the Naval Reserves in the Spanish-American War
Doubleday, Russell
Spanish-American War, 1898 -- Juvenile fiction
The mustering over, all flocked aft to hear the band again, but were
disappointed, for the concert was over.
However, the men had come aft for music and music they must have in some
shape.
So "Steve" the modest was dragged out, and after some persuasion sang
the following to the tune of "Lou, Lou, How I Love Ma Lou." "Baron," the
gunner's mate, accompanied him on the mandolin, and Eickmann, the marine
corporal, helped out with his guitar.
"'Way down at the Brooklyn navy yard,
Where ships are rigged for sea,
Three hundred little 'heroes'
Went aboard the old 'Yankee.'
Oh! we were young and foolish,
We longed for Spanish gore,
And so they set us working
As we never worked before.
CHORUS:
"Hard-tack and salt-horse every day,
Work, slave, for mighty little pay;
And just before we get to sleep
We hear the bosun pipe like this
(Whistle),
'Up all hammocks, all hands.'
"They turn us out each morning,
To scrub our working clothes;
To polish guns and bright work,
To 'light' along the hose.
To wash down decks and ladders,
To coil down miles of rope,
To carry coal in baskets,
To live on air and hope.
CHORUS:
"Hard-tack and salt-horse every day,
Work, slave, for mighty little pay;
And when we think our work is done
We hear the bosun pipe like this
(Whistle),
'Turn to.'
"Way down at Santiago,
We fit the forts one day.
The shells were bursting o'er us,
There was the deuce to pay.
We hid our inclination
To run and hide below,
Because we're little 'heroes,'
They've often told us so.
CHORUS:
"Hard-tack and salt-horse every day,
Work, slave, for mighty little pay;
And just as all the fight was over
We heard the bosun pipe like this
(Whistle),
'Gun-deck sweepers, clean sweep fore and aft.
Sweepers, clean your spit kits.'
"One Saturday we anchored
Just off the Isle of Pines,
To load up with pineapples,
And look for Spanish signs.
We called away the cutters,
With seamen filled them up,
And captured five small sailboats,
Two Spaniards and a pup.
CHORUS:
"Hard-tack and salt-horse every day,
Work, slave, for mighty little pay;
And when we'd like to talk it over
We heard the bosun pipe this
(Whistle),
'Pipe down.'"
"That's great!" said one and all.
"There is just time for the 'Intermezzo' before tattoo, 'Baron,'" said
"Pair o' Pants," the signal boy. "Give it to us, will you?"
"Baron" obligingly complied.
The boys lay around in comfortable, though ungraceful, attitudes, a
small but appreciative audience.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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