h him Godspeed in going.

The marine is sometimes termed soldier and sailor too, which is not
correct. He is not a sailor and does not claim to be. When not in
barracks ashore he lives aboard some war-ship afloat; and on shipboard
he does certain guard work and handles the secondary batteries. But he
does not have to sailorize; the bluejacket takes care of that part, and
takes care of it well. The notion that a marine must qualify as a sailor
aboard ship has probably cost the corps many a prospective recruit.

To call him a seagoing soldier is more nearly correct. When it is not an
act of war to land marines on foreign soil, it is good business to keep
them where landings can be quickly made with them. So his being kept
aboard ship, perhaps. Bluejackets have taken part in landing-parties,
too, but it is not to black the bluejacket's eye to say that it is not
his regular job. The bluejacket's work is aboard ship--on the bridge, in
magazines, in turrets, below decks. Advance shore work is the marine's
specialty, and he goes to it pretty much as a man with a dinner-pail
goes to work in the subway.

He is the first to land, the last to leave, and to name the places where
he has seen service--well, one of them wrote a song once.

"From the hills of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli," it began. But he
has seen more than Mexico or the Mediterranean since. He could now say:

"From the hills of Montezuma to the gates of old Peking
He has heard the shrapnel bursting, he has heard the
Mauser's ping!
He has known Alaskan waters and the coral roads of Guam,
He has----"

But it's like calling a roll--Egypt, Algeria, Tripoli, Abyssinia,
Mexico, China, Japan, Korea, Cuba, Porto Rico, Panama, Nicaragua, Haiti,
Santo Domingo, Alaska, the Philippines, Formosa, Sumatra, Hawaii, Samoa,
Guam--like calling the roll of tropic countries and a few less warm to
say where he has been.

He has been most everywhere, done most everything. Did you ever see any
mounted marines? There is a guard of mounted marines right now with the
legation in Peking; and once a platoon of marines, on duty in Africa,
not being able to get big enough horses, rode camels through the wilds
of Abyssinia to the palace of old Menelik.

In speaking here of the marines, no man or officer has been named.
That is done of a purpose. In talking of the corps, from the
topsiders down--generals, colonels, majors, captains lieutenants,
and e