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Speaker 1: A recruit at Christmas. Young Lieutenant Klaughlin left the Brooklyn

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Navy Yard at an early hour and arrived at the

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recruiting office at ten o'clock. It was the day before Christmas,

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and even the bowery the Thieves Highway had taken on

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the emblems and spirit of this season, and the young

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officer smiled grimly as he saw a hard faced proprietor

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of a saloon directing the hanging of wreaths and crosses

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over the door of his palace, and telling the assistant

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barkeeper to make the red holly berries show up better.

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The cheap lodging houses had trailed the green over their

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illuminated transoms, and even on Mott Strait, the chinamen had

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hung up strings of evergreens over the doors of the

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joss House and the gambling house next door, and the

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tramp sent good for nothings just back from the island

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had an animated, expectant look, as though something certainly was

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going to happen. Lieutenant Claflin nodded to Corporal Goddard at

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the door of the recruiting office and startled that veteran's rigidity,

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and kept his cotton gloved hand at his visor longer

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than the regulations required by saying wish you merry Christmas

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as he jumped up the stairs. The recruiting office was

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a dull, blank looking place. The view from the windows

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was not inspiring, and the sight of the plump and

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black eyed jewels in front of the pawn shop across

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the street, who was a vision of delight to Corporal Goddad,

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had no attraction to the officer upstairs. He put on

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his blue jacket with the black braid down the front,

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lighted a cigar, and wrote letters on every other than

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official matters, and forgot about recruits. He was to have

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leave of absence on Christmas, and though the others had

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denounced him for leaving them mess table on that day,

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they had forgiven him when he explained that he was

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going to spend it with his people at home. The

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others had homes as far away as San Francisco and

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as far inland as milwauke Key, and some called the

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big ship of war home. But Claflin's people lived up

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in Connecticut, and he could reach them in a few hours.

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He was a very lucky man, the others said, and

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he felt very cheerful over it. And forgot the blank

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looking office with its rolls and regulations, and colored prints

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of uniforms and models of old warships, and tin boxes

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of official documents which were to be filled out and

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sent to the Honorable the Secretary of the Navy. Corporal

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Godad on the stoop below, shifted from one foot to

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the other and chafed his gloved hands softly together to

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keep them warm. He had no time to write letters

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on unofficial writing paper, nor to smoke cigars or read

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novels with his feet on a chair, with the choice

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of looking out at the queer stream of human life

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moving by below the window on the opposite side of

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the boweryy he had to stand straight, which came easily

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to him now, and answer questions and urged doubtful minds

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to join the ranks of the government's marines. A drunken

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man gazed at Ogden's colored pictures of the American infantry,

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cavalry and marine uniforms that hung before the door, and

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placed an unsteady finger on the cavalry man's picture, and

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said he chose to be one of those. Corporal Goddard

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told him severely to be off and get sober and

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grow six inches before he thought of such a thing,

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and frowned him off the stoop. Then two boys from

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the country asked about the service, and went off very

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quickly when they found they would have to remain in

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it for three years at least. A great many more

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stopped in front of the gay pictures and gazed admiringly

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at Corporal Goddard's bright brass buttons and brilliant complex, which

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they innocently attributed to exposure to the sun on long,

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weary marches. But no one came to offer himself in earnest.

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At one o'clock, Lieutenant Claflin changed his coat and went

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downtown to luncheon, and came back, still more content and

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in feeling with this season, and lighted another cigar. But

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just as he had settled himself comfortably, he heard Corporal

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Goddad's step on the stairs, and a less determined step

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behind him. He took his feet down from the wrong

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of the other chair, pulled his undress jacket into place,

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and took up a pen. Corporal Goddad saluted at the

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door and introduced with a wave of his hand, the

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latest applicant for Uncle Sam's service. The applicant was as

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young as Lieutenant Laughlin and asked good looking, but he

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was dirty and unshaven, and his eyes were set back

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in the sockets, and his fingers twitched at his side.

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Lieutenant Claughlin had seen many applicants in this stage. He

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called it the remorseful stage and was used to it. Name,

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said Lieutenant Claughlin, as he pulled a printed sheet of

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paper towards him. The applicant hesitated, then said Walker, John Walker.

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The lieutenant noticed the hesitation, but he merely remarked to himself,

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it's none of my business, and added a loud nationality

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and wrote United States. Before the applicant had sat, the

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applicant said he was unmarried, was twenty three years old,

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and had been born in New York City. Even Corporal

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Goddad knew this last was not so, but it was

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none of his business either. He moved the applicant up

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against the wall under the measuring rod and brought it

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down on his head. So he measured and waged the

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applicant and tested his eyesight with printed letters and bits

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of colored yarn. And the Lieutenant kept tally on the

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sheet and bit the end of his pen and watched

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the applicant's face. There were a great many applicants, and

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few were chosen, but none of them had quite the

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air about him which this one had. Lieutenant Claughlin thought

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Corporal Goddad was just a bit too callous in the

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way he handled the applicant, and too peremptory in his questions,

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but he could not tell why Corporal Goddad treated them

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all in that way. Then the young officer noticed that

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the applicant's white face was flushing, and that he bit

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his lips when Corporal Goddad pushed him towards the weighing

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machine as he would have moved a barrel of flower.

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Your land, sir, said Lieutenant Claughlin, glancing at the sheet.

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Your average is very good. All you've got to do

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now is to sign this and then it will be over.

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But he did not let go of the sheet in

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his hand, as he would have done had he wanted

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it over. Neither did the applicant move forward to sign.

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After you have signed this, said the young officer, keeping

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his eyes down on the paper before him. You will

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have become a servant of the United States. You will

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sit in that other room until the officers closed for today,

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and then you will be led over to the navy

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yard and put into a uniform. And from that time on,

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for three years, you will have a number the same

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number as the one on your musket. You and the

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musket will both belong to the government. You will clean

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and load the musket and fight with it if God

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ever gives us the chance, and the government will feed

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you and keep you clean, and fight with you if needful.

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The lieutenant looked up at the corporal and said, you

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can go, God art, And the corporal turned on his

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heel and walked downstairs, wondering. You may spend the three years,

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continued the officer, still without looking at the applicant, which

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are the best years of a young man's life on

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the sea, visiting foreign ports. Or you may spend it

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marching up and down the Brooklyn Navy Yard and cleaning

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brass work. There are some men who are meant to

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clean brass work, and too much up and down in

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front of a stone arsenal, and who are fitted for

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nothing else but to every man is given something which

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should tell him that he is put here to make

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the best of himself. Every man has so that even

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the men who are only fit to clean brass rods.

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But some men kill it or try to kill it

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in different ways, generally by rum, and they are as

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generally successful if they keep the process up long enough.

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The government of which I am a very humble representative,

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is always glad to get good men to serve her.

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And I may be wrong, and I'm quite sure that

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I'm speaking contrary to regulations, that some of her men

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can serve her better in other ways than swabbing down decks.

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Now you know yourself best. It it may be that

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you are just this sort of man to stand up

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and salute the ladies when they come on board, to

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see the ship, and to watch them from forward as

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they walk about with the officers. You won't be allowed

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to speak to them. You will be number three hundred

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twenty nine or three hundred twenty eight. And whatever benefits

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a good woman can give a man will be shut

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off from you, more or less for three years. And

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on the other hand, it may be that there are

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some good women who could keep you on shore and

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help you to do something more with yourself than to

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carry a musket. And again it may be that if

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you stayed on shore, you would drink yourself more or

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less comfortably to death and break somebody's heart. I can't tell.

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But if I were not a commissioned officer to the

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United States and a thing of rules and regulations who

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can dance and wear a uniform, and a youth general

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unfit to pose as an example, I would advise you

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not to sign this, but to go home and brace

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up and leave whiskey alone. Now what shall we do,

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said the young lieutenant, smiling. Shall we tear this up?

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Or will you sign it? The applicant's lips were twitching

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as well as his hands now, and he rubbed his

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coff over his face and smiled back. I'm much obliged

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to you, he said, nervously. That sounds a rather flat

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thing to say, I know, but if you knew all

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I meant by it, though, it would mean enough. I've

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made a damned full of myself in this city, but

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nothing worse. And it was a choice of the Navy,

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where they'd keep me straight, or going to the devil

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my own way. But it won't be my own way

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now thanks to you. I don't know how you saw

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how it was so quickly, but you see I have

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got a home back in Connecticut and women that can

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help me there, and I'll go back to them and

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ask them to let me started again where I was

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when I went away. That's good, said the young officer, cheerfully.

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That's the way to talk. Tell me where you live

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in Connecticut, and I'll lend you the car fare to

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get there. I'll expect it back with interest, you know,

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he said, laughing. Thank you, said the rejected applicant. It's

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not so far, but that I can walk, And I

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don't think you'd believe in me if I took money.

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Oh yes I would, said the lieutenant. How much do

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you want? Thank you? But I'd rather walk, said the other.

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I can get there easily enough by to morrow. I'll

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be a nice Christmas present, won't I? He added grimly.

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You'll do, said the young officer. I fancy you'll be

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about as welcome a one as i'll get. He held

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out his hand and the other shook it and walked out,

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with his shoulders as stiff as those of Corporal Goddard.

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Then he came back and looked into the room. Shyly,

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I say, he said, hesitatingly. The lieutenant ran his hand

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down into his pocket. You've changed your mind, he asked eagerly,

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that's good. How much will you want? The rejected applicant flushed, No,

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not that, he said, I just came back to say

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wish you a merry Christmas. And of a recruited Christmas

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by Richard Harding Davis