Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1901 — THE NAVAL CADET. [ARTICLE]

THE NAVAL CADET.

Responsibility and Fan •( Serving on a Man-of-War. There is nothing which the naval cadet so fiercely resents as being called a boy, writes Cyrus Townsend in his reminiscences of the army and navy just published by the Scribners, with the title “Under Tops’ls and Tents.” Boy is a regular rating in the navy, and the smallest midshipman feels insulted if that title be applied to him. He has been styled officially a young gentleman from time immemorial. Yet in no college where the course is as severe are the students more genuine boys than the “young gentlemen” of the naval academy. The age limits for matriculation in my time were from 14 to 18, and the majority, were nearer the lower than the higher limit. The work of the school presents a singular mixture. At one moment a boy of 1G may be in virtual command of a 2,000-ton ship, or he may be running a 5,000-horse power engine. He may be drilling 400 other students, or mixing a deadly explosive, or in charge of an eight-inch gun; by contrast, and, during the next half hour, possibly he is being inspected to see that his shoes are his jacket brushed,and hisfaceproperly shaved! Or he may be reported for crossing the grass, or for smoking a cigarette, or for wearing a non-regulation collar. On one hand he is under a tutelage longer and more severe, a discipline harder than any other boy educated either at home or at any ordinary college experiences; on the other, he is j thrust into the midst of blinding re-j sponsibilities and charged with the grave duty of commanding men; but he never forgets to be a boy in spite of his strenuous repudiation of the title. Indeed, when he is an old man with the four stars of a full admiral in his flag, he is a boy still. Farragut used to amuse himself on the Hartford and show his agility by jumping across a stick of wood which he held himself with both hands. Ido not know if Dewey ever followed this healthful and harmless practice, but ' I venture to say he is as much a boy at h art as he ever was.