{"id":9236,"date":"2023-03-23T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspaperhistory.com\/?p=9236"},"modified":"2023-03-23T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T05:00:00","slug":"sweet-timothy-or-saved-by-the-secretary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/sweet-timothy-or-saved-by-the-secretary\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet Timothy; or Saved by the Secretary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From The Sun, March 23, 1915<\/a>. By Arthur Guiterman.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

A BALLAD OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n

If I were a young middy in love with a girl, I would marry her if it broke up the whole navy. I would let nothing like that stand between me and the girl I loved.\u2014Secretary Josephus Daniels<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It was just eight bells or about half past,    And our tea was in the process of solution,When they piped all hands to the maintopmast    For to solemnize a naval execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

An\u2019 we heard the horns of the Horse Marines    An\u2019 their boots drumming hollow on the plankingAs they marched up a youth in his early teens    With manacles an\u2019 fetter locks a-clanking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Oh, they dragged him up, and I felt real bad    When I saw \u2019twas little Timothy the ensign,An\u2019 I knew that they meant for to hang the lad,    A proceeding what there wasn\u2019t any sense in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

And our captain stern to the prisoner said,    \u201cYou will shortly be suspended from a gibbet,For you\u2019ve gone an\u2019 went and a gal you\u2019ve wed,    Which the articles especially prohibit!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Oh, his gal runs up, so pale an\u2019 sweet    (And she was a ravin\u2019, tearin\u2019 beauty!)An\u2019 she swooned for grief at the captain\u2019s feet,    But he only muttered, \u201cSeamen, do your duty!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Oh, I wept big tears till my blouse was soaked,    For they tied a halter round the middy\u2019s wishbone,An\u2019 the poor boy gulped, an\u2019 the poor boy choked    As he might have been a-swallerin\u2019 a fishbone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Now we heard a shout an\u2019 a whistle toot,    And orders come to anchor an\u2019 to reef us;An\u2019 a man come aboard in a broadcloth suit    Which I seen was the eminent Josephus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Oh, he stepped right up to the boy (poor chap!)    And sez he, \u201cYou\u2019re a credit to the nation!An\u2019 you shan\u2019t be hanged by no gold lace cap    For the breakin\u2019 of a stupid regulation!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor if I loved a gal an\u2019 the gal loved me    I\u2019d marry her in Afriky or SiamIf it wrecked every ship in the hull navee\u2014    For that\u2019s the sort of prairie chicken I am!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn\u2019 you shall cruise with your bride, you shall    Afar on the ocean wavy,For I\u2019ll make you a Lord High Admiral    If there\u2019s any such position in the navy!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From The Sun, March 23, 1915. By Arthur Guiterman. A BALLAD OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY If I were a young middy in love with a girl, I would marry her if it broke up the whole navy. I would let nothing like that stand between me and the girl I loved.\u2014Secretary Josephus Daniels It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,18],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-9236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newspapers","category-the-sun","tag-arthur-guiterman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}