Cinderellas of the fleet . inter of wet and cold, but noone outside the M. themselves have ever realized what is reallythe greatest hardship of all. It is summed up in the word , have you ever tried to do a continual course of Swedish exer-cises from, say. 4 a. m. until 6 p. m. with no interval for food? I takeit you have not, but if you can try and imagine to yourself the bodilyfatigue and vexation of spirit that would be produced by this form ofpenance and then add to it wind, bitter cold and, perhaps, nay prob-ably, wet, you may glean some idea of the hardships expressed by
Cinderellas of the fleet . inter of wet and cold, but noone outside the M. themselves have ever realized what is reallythe greatest hardship of all. It is summed up in the word , have you ever tried to do a continual course of Swedish exer-cises from, say. 4 a. m. until 6 p. m. with no interval for food? I takeit you have not, but if you can try and imagine to yourself the bodilyfatigue and vexation of spirit that would be produced by this form ofpenance and then add to it wind, bitter cold and, perhaps, nay prob-ably, wet, you may glean some idea of the hardships expressed bythis little two syllabled word. I might also have added a slightform of nausea common to many of us, but often not —and we get it throughout most days of the winter—is thecurse of our existence. It is present without respite, without pity forfatigue and aching bone and muscle, an enemy to rest, to rob us offood, and indeed of every amenity of life. This briefly is what the 22 THE CINDERELLAS OF THE FLEET. Photograph by courtesy of Lieut. Bewick S. Cawthorn, gun crew of an M. L. and their wicked little 3-inch gun. hardships of motion mean to us. An M. L. is never on an even keel,save on the very smoothest of days, days that during the year onecan count on one hand. We ride over everything, and our very livesdepend on this fact, for we are too fragile to go through or takeit really solid. It is due to this fact, too, that our brave little shipsderive their wonderful seagoing capacity. In spite of all we hear to the contrary, how wonderful are thesea-going qualities of the M. Never in my wildest dreams did Ithink a small vessel of their size could live in the seas I have seenthem live in, and survive without the smallest hurt, the only anxietybeing the engines, the failure of which might have meant disaster,and perhaps death. The longer I hve and have my being in themthe more I marvel at the boats and the more confidence I gain. Howdifferent it
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookidcinderellaso, bookyear1920
