THE AMERICAN-SCANDINA VIAN REVIEW 
299 
weather at sea, the shock of gun-fire, and the undainty touch of the 
colored mess attendant. 
Following the usual procedure, I passed from second in com¬ 
mand of the first rate battleship to the command of smaller vessels. 
There in my own cabin mess I found myself united with my be¬ 
loved Royal Copenhagen. To prove that blessings may come to 
the meek and lowly, these third and fourth rate vessels came in for 
the odd lots and left-overs of the old stock, much to my delight and 
satisfaction. 
No matter what may have been the economic or political reasons 
that bi ought about this change in the Navy, we who have been most 
intimately affected by it, feel that we have been deprived of our birth¬ 
right. To my way of thinking the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain 
deserves immunity from national economic considerations. Its dis¬ 
tinctive character, its excellence, and the superiority in its kind, im¬ 
pose a debt of appreciation and recognition upon the entire civilized 
world. 
My association with this class of tableware in the Navy mess 
suffices to make an indelible impression on my memory. Rut the 
gods have not been satisfied to let it go at that. All during my mar¬ 
ried life of something more than fifteen years this same blue-figured 
china has been on the family table and on the sideboard. It is one 
of those things that I could almost say of it as Paul Jones said of 
the American flag, “We shall never be separated in life or death. ,, 
