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Educating Uncle Sam's Tars HEN the day came for the mastless bat tleship to suc ceed the ship with sails the Washing- W mm ton civil authorities be lieved the time was at hand for a complete change in the trac ing of the Annupolis midshipmen. The older men of the service, who had gone down to the sea through the years in the full riggers, swore under their breaths and spoke aloud in protest. They said that a man who couldn’t reef a sail in a storm never would make a sailor, and that the navy would go to the dogs. The civilians had respect for the growl believing it to be the offspring of good spur deck sense, and as a re- Tff£ COOK PREPARE D/rt/YfR Buit the battleship man of today, with never ft sail in sight aloft, knows nevertheless how to furl, reef and “lay out” with the best of the old-timers, who saw service before the masts of "Old Ironsides.” Coolness in danger and resourcefulness at all times are the gifts of the sea service of the ancient days. That is why it is that the Annapolis midshipmen are taught the ropes as were the generations of sailors who never saw a smokestack on the sea save the one that led from the galley. It is true that the training in sail handling is not as long con tinued as in the other days, but it is thorough, and the "middy” of this year who found him self in command of a full-rigged ship would not be dubbed a landlubber by the sailors be fore port was sighted. There is a new training vessel at the acade my, and the shade of any ancient mariner who happens aboard will find nothing missing to which he was called to lay his hands in the old day. The ship is the Severn and she Is ft beauty under sail or at anchor. On the deck of it one learns ns quickly as a glance can travel the spar deck the magnitude of the midshipman’s task of "learning the ropes.” The strands of the sea gain a new meaning and a new significance. The rope dictionary is as long ns a cable. Some one has said the old soldiers all have gone to Davy Jones. Davy has some big old time salts still only in prospect of posses sion. There are sailors on the Severn with service stripes enough to over-decorate a ti ger. One of them looks ns if he might have served under Decatur against the pirates of the Mediterranean. He rolls in his gait and shows tattoo marks, and the visitor likes him; he swears a South sea oath, and the visitor loves him. These fine old salts take the mldshlpinates under their tuition and tradition and seaman ship nre safe. A ship’s crew of boys march from the barracks to the Severn in the early afternoon and take up the study of knots— rope knots und not the measure of distance kind —and in three minutes there ure 30 du plications of the fatnilinr painting, "A Knotty Problem.” The boys go aloft and do those things of which only the seaman knows the names, and if he imparted them the layman’s knowledge would be as it was before —the land- lubber’s Ignorance. The midshipmen do steeple-jack tricks that seem dizzy-headed im possibilities, and do them with an apparent poise of nerve that Ib a fit comrade to the poise of body. Heaving the lend and boxing the compass are kindergarten lessons of the service. The boys nre taught onrmnnship in cutters of the men-of-war. and their earlier sailing lessons are given in launches, catboats and other Hmall craft. Lieut. Commander E. H . Durell has thus described the first steps of the In* struction in maneuvering: "Maneuvering vessels, in obedience to sig nal or fleet tactics, as it is called, is Btarted in its simpler forms as soon as the midshipman enters, and the necessity of handling his ves sel promptly and efficiently, a thing that he will be required to do until he Is an admiral, By Edward B. Clark when he may require it of others, is impressed upon him from the start. Instruc tion in fleet tactics is pro gressive. extending through the course and in the last year the actual maneuvers of a fleet are practiced with a fleet of 20 steam cutters.” The "middies ” of course are given progressive in struction in all things that pertain to the modern men of-war. For practice during the first periods of the sea manship lessons the steam launches are pressed into service, and then the boys are taken aboard the small gunboats which lie in the Annapolis harbor. On these boats they do all the work of the enlisted men. There is nothlnK too hard or too dirty In a hand and clothc-s soiling way for the "middles” in the line of sailor labor. They do it all uncom plalnlngly. Discipline serves. If willingness does not. to keep the lads in the line of duty There are few niceties in the initial life of the sailor. There Is something of regularity about the life of the student at the naval academy. If there should be any doubt on this point a glance at the daily routine of the fourth class men, the "plebes" of the school, will bring conviction. Here is the daily round of work as set down in the books: 6:00 n. m.—Reveille, except on Sundays and holidays. ti:3o a. m.—Breakfast formation. Brenkfast, sweeping and arranging of rooms and making of their beds by the midshipmen themselves. 8. a. m— Formation for first period drill seamanship or ordnance. 10:15 a. m.—Drills in either ordnance or seamanship. 12:30 p. m.—Dinner formation. 3:00 p. m.—Seamanship drills in either cut ters or launches. 5:00 p. m.—Swimming. Recreation period. 6:30 p. ni.—Supper formation. 8:00 to 0:00 p. m.—Drills in either gymna sium or armory. 9:30 p. m.—Gun Are. o:3i* p. in.—Warning call for beds. 10:00 p. m.—" Taps" and "all lights out.” The hard work of the officer sailors contin ues after the academic days are over. Therp are duties on the modern man-of-war of which the old wooden-ship sailor knew nothing. In the eurlier days, when there wus nothing to do on board, the Jackies were set to work polish ing the brasses which already shone resplen dent with much polishing. The captain be lieved thoroughly that the devil always was about with tempting tasks for the idle hands to do, and as he wished to be in supreme com mand of his ship he never gave the devil a moment to ply his trade. They polish the brasses on the modern men-of-war, but not oftener than they need polishing. There ia no waste time for officers or crew. The “middy” has full op portunity before graduation to know what his sea life is to be. Me makes three pr&c lice cruises, each of three months' duration, in the course of iiia school career. The sea trade is hard, yet alluring. There are some resignations, but the sailor will tell you that the re signed ones have a daily ?rowl with themselves all :lirough their land living, to which the growl of the quar ter deck is a babe's protest. The Annapolis midship- man’s life, taking it all in all, from reveille to taps, is an easier round of existence than that of his brother, the West Point cadet. The sailor's work is as hard as that of the soldier, but he has more creature comforts and much more liberty to go and come. There is still altogether too much of what the English visitor called the “beastly grind” of life at the naval school, but time is bring ing relief. It will never bring relief to the West Pointers, for at the military academy tradition rules hard, and what was good enough for Cadets Grant and Lee is good enough to-day for their successors. The delights of town life are shut off from the sea school students, for at certain times they may attend what they irreverently call “society blowouts,” and they may dine at the hotels and do other things that are not denied to boys at civilian schools. If a cadet at West Point were to ask permission to dine at the hotel on the reservation, even with his father and mother, the presumptuous peti tioner would find himself facing a court-mar tial on the charge of attempting to smash that holy of holies —precedent. The first cadet West Point’s walls held was not allowed to take meals away from the mess hall, and the last cadet the academy will hold in the time to be, must dine where his forerunner dined a century ago and be content with the place and the fare. The West Point cadets have a little the best of the Annapolis midshipmen in some ways. The flirtation walk at the military school runs through a cool and very much sequestered way along the wooded bluff of the river. The flirtation walk of the naval school is called Lovers’ Lane, and it runs broad and open % under the high-branched trees. The sail or and his lass who can flirt there unseen hold the magician’s lost art of invisibility. There are 40 self-constituted chaperons for every pair of lovers, and then there is the sentinel, who may desire blindness from sheer love of a lover, but whose orders keep his eyes open —and at an admiral’s orders not even Love may laugh. There are shower baths In the room of the midshipmen in the Bancroft hall barrucks. Years ago buthing was considered a luxury six days in the week and a necessity only on Saturday night. The fact that they can and do bathe daily has not enervated the midshipmen. Their quarters are severely plain, but they have running water and the boys are not bucket carriers four times a day, as are their comrades of the militury service in the Hudson highlands. The Annapolis students seem to be a happy lot, even though they work harder than the boys at Harvard or Vale. If the students of the civilian schools were confronted with tasks such as the sailors look on dnlly there would be no students to sit on the Yale feuce or to gather in the Harvard yard. The college man pays for his course, and rightly expects something like an ocasional rest; the Annupo Ub man Is paid to study and to work, and ha earns his wage. All this work of body and mind agrees with the "middies” apparently, for they are as healthy a looking ship’s crew as one can find in a coastwise journey. They are ath letes, every one, and show that they are proud of it. In the gymnasium, through which a gro who is much of a delight linguistically, s' t':c .Lite- record’ o? indivl€**l athletic achievements of midshipmen who had outdone their fellows. On one appears the name of Midshipman Worth Bagley of North Carolina. Poor Bagley! Only a few short months after he had made this record he made a hero’s record in a fight with the Spaniards aid gave up his life for his country in ma king it. The “middies” are taught to box in the gymnasium, and the “bouts” are “interesting,” eo it is said. Boxing is of as much service to the sailor at times as is swordsmanship, and no lad is graduated from Annapolis who is not qualified to give a good account of him self in a light with all weapons but bare fists barred. The enlisted men of the navy know the boxing game, and it is this that makes them come out with a fairly short casualty list when the shore leave play in foreign ports gets a trifle rough. The modern battleships are none too large for the comfortable quartering of their crews. When two men have a “grouch,” as the word goes, it frequently happens that they have it out somewhere in the seclusion of an iron walled corner of a lower deck. This applies to enlisted men and not the "middies,” though possibly such things occur in the student ranks. As a rule the sailors are allowed to fight it out unchecked. It is the only plan worth considering, for two men who have fought and have shown pluck have mutual respect there- after. Moreover, with the fight over, things are better for the others of the crew, who suffer from the friction of the ill feeling and are glad to have the affair settled and the bitterness thrown overboard. A visitor was the accidental witness of such a fight on a man-of-war which he boarded in Hampton Roads. The most striking feature of the thing was the celerity with which the petty officers disappeared when the row began. The Frigate Santee,one of the “strong ones” of the elder naval day, is moored close to a wharf in the naval acudemy grounds. The Santee is roofed over and made comfortable for living quarters. The vessel, however, is isolated, and when one gets into the bowels of the hold he is cut off from the world as com pletely as if he were in a mine. Light he does get and this is much when the matter of confinement is considered. When a mid shipman does something to break the regula tions which the ordinary punishments will not meet effectually he is locked up on board the Santee, where he is given a chunce to think over the sin of disobedience und to re cite a penitential psalm or two if he is re ligiously inclined. The Santee Is not altogether a pleasant berth. It is the dearth of companionship that hurts, and a term on the ship generally works a rapid change of mind und heart In the con fined one. Elihu S. Riley recently told the story of Midshipman Coombs, who was locked up in the hold of the Santee for a breach of academy discipline. It was a terribly cold night in winter and two skaters were carried away on un ice iloe Into the waters beyond the prison ship. Coombs heard the cries for help, and. dressed only In his underwear, he crawled through a porthole and started over the break ing ice to the rescue. He was joined by other and much better clad rescuers from the shore, but he kept on and was the first at the scene of danger. Coombs pulled an oar in the boat that put out from the edge of the ice to bring back the imperiled ones. The next day the superintendent of the academy told Coombs he wqb a brave lad and sent him back to hit comrpdeß in barracks. Alas, How True! “I often wonder,” remarked Mr. Stubb in solemn reflection, “if the last man on earth will have the last word.” "Of course he will, John,” laughsß Mrs. Stuff. "But why are you so sure?” “Because the last woman will girt it to him.”—Chicago Daily News. Blissful Tour. Pearl—They say Switzerland is an Ideal country for honeymoon tours. Rubj’—lt must be. There is a tun nel twelve miles long.—Chicago Newrn. A Back-Water Town. "It was one of those sleepy, horse back-water towns, like Squash** said Representative Burton, describing at a Hot Springs dinner a town thal he disliked. “Squash is the limit. A gentleman arrived there the other day and wantefl a hair cut. He found the barber shop, and, after shaking the barber vigor ously, managed to awaken him. ‘How long will it take you to ent my hair, barber?' he asked. “ 'Not long, boss,’ said the barber. “And he rose, yawned, and stretched himself. Then he called upstairs So his wife: “ ‘Hey, send the kid down to Sun office to tell the editor I want my scissors just as soon as lie’s done ed?/- tin’ the paper. There’s a gent hexw waitin' for a haircut.’ ” Notes. “I hear that the new tenor fs great success—that he can hold one vS his notes for half a minute.” “That’s nothing; I’ve held one of bi» notes for over a year.”—Judge’s Li brary. Special Round Trip Homeseekers Rates to New Mexico and Texas. On the first and third Tuesdays exf each month, during the entire the Colorado & Southern Railway w 513 sell round trip Homeseekers’ tickets to a great many points in New Mexico and Texas at one fare plus $2.00 for the round trip. Final limit twenty-ftvo days, allowing liberal stop-over privD eges. For detailed information, rates,, etc., call on the Colorado & Southern agent, or address T. E. Fisher, GeneraS Passenger Agent, Denver. Colorado The 1909 National Encampment of th» Grand Army of the Republic will be* held In Salt I-ike City. August 9tb t«* 14th. An unusually attractive folder red-white-and-blue. replete with fcTsfev mation concerning Utah, Salt Gty and the Rocky Mountain region, is* be ing distributed by the Passenger De*- partment of the Denver Rio Grand** Railroad. One feature that will b«e ef particular Interest to Grand Arm? is the reproduction of speaking like nesses of all the Commanders-m-Chie? from It. F. Stephenson, the organizer' in 1566. to Henry Nevtus. the prefers r Commander. This Is the first time that this set of portraits hes been assembled The familiar faces of John A. Logar.. Ambrose E. Burnside. John F. Hart rnnft. Russell A. Alger. John C. Blacfc. James Tanner and many others appear in this interesting series. Pie has gone up in Chicago. This will prevent it from going down in th* same locality. DENVER DIRECTORY BROWN PALACE HOTEL FI rc-proof" European Flan. 51.50 and I'oward. RHN I I nntf Dealer In all kinds of VICK DUrI I, LUUA (’IIAMUSE. Mammoth cata log mulled free. Car. l«th and B’.ake. Dcnvfr. RF A PIIRI I9HFR ? larl a paper In tout H rUDLIOIILn home town. With the ua* or Western'' superior ready-prlnte rrm cart Issue a very creditable paper at amaU ex pense For particulars and prices add tea* Western Newspaper Colon, Denver. Colo. rmrwnnkc r int if uimo rsjssr W.ltof >r catalogue. THE WESTERN FIREWORK* CO.. : 44 Lawrence Street, Denver. 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