. The fleet from within. Being the impressions of a R. N. V. R. officer. eardmy suggestion. He came forward, a bit shy,but eager, and saluted. I can play a little, sir, he said. 176 THE FLEET FROM WITHIN You can ? The Chaplain looked round at the man asif it were an amazing thing. He had been inthe Navy for years, and apparently had nottaken in the new conditions which had ad-mitted into the ranks gentlemen lower ratings. What can you play ? he asked. I could play a fugue or a sonata—all thechurch music—and something from Chopinor Mendelssohn as a finale. The Chaplain gasped. * Whats your name
. The fleet from within. Being the impressions of a R. N. V. R. officer. eardmy suggestion. He came forward, a bit shy,but eager, and saluted. I can play a little, sir, he said. 176 THE FLEET FROM WITHIN You can ? The Chaplain looked round at the man asif it were an amazing thing. He had been inthe Navy for years, and apparently had nottaken in the new conditions which had ad-mitted into the ranks gentlemen lower ratings. What can you play ? he asked. I could play a fugue or a sonata—all thechurch music—and something from Chopinor Mendelssohn as a finale. The Chaplain gasped. * Whats your name ? he asked. Dickson. Your real name ? Oh—er—does it matter, sir ? Dickson and I met after the church had played with a marvellous touch andtechnique, which at once revealed a scholarand a natural musician. From that day on-wards, I may say, he became the gentleman-rater of the lower decks. * I joined up like the rest, he told me. I rather fancied the Navy, and the onlything open was the Of course,candidly, sir, I didnt know quite what the. QUEER FISH IN THE 177 life down here was going to be like. ...He laughed. Im glad I didnt. It mighthave made me hesitate a bit, and I shouldhave missed a side of human life about whichI had never dreamt. I nodded. I knew enough and had seenenough to know that the life in the Navywas fitted only for the great strong physicalbeings who were broken in when young, inorder to make up this arm of the great yet aboard this magnificent vessel Ifound a motley of society, of which few peopleoutside—and a good many inside—the Ser-vice never dreamt. Much had been sungabout the poets and millionaires who weremasquerading in khaki, but little we dreamtthat some of the best men had joined up asable-bodied seamen in the lower decks of ourgreat warships, and had put to sea in thecompany of thousands of men who had knownthe sea and the Navy from childhood. Herein this ship were bankers, baronets, andscholar
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade191, booksubjectgreatbritainroyalnavy
