Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1914 — Annapolis and Its Heroes. [ARTICLE]

Annapolis and Its Heroes.

(By J. E. JONES.)

With a desire to find out of what stuff these navy heroes are made, I journeyed to the Annapolis Naval Academy, the other day. Standing m the library building, in the center of a great room whose walls of a great room whose walls were covered with the trophies of many cars, my gaze turned to the dome, to beeotne rivjtd upon a blue field, on which stood out in large white le'ters, the words; ‘’Don’t Give Up the Ship.’ Tiles© five words form resolution of every Annapolis graduate. The thing is a real, actual living -ftirit. and Since, the beginning o* the republic, it has preerved and kef t untarnished the glory,of the American flag. DeWey. Sami son. Schley. Evans all received their training here.

So did Fletcher, and Badger, whose i names have so recently filled the dispatches, flashed by wireless from 1 Vera Cruz and Tampico. Beneath the dome of the great! chapel, in a magnificent crypt provided by a grateful nation I viewed the last resting place of John Paul Jones. For a hundred years these old bones lay hidden in an unmarked grave in a foreign country. But for future generations a great people- will atone to such as is mortal of one of the splendid heroes of the American-navy. The spirit of John Daul Jones hovers over Annapolis, inspiring young men to emulate the heroism and patriotism of he whose name is perpetually preserved in our naval history. ■ In another building I stood be-' fore a tablet placed in honor of Captain Charles Vernon bridley, who' died in Japan a few months after his name had been sounded around the world, when he obeyed the orders of his Commodore—“ When you’re ready, Gridley, fire.’’ ' The’other day the President said. ”Tell Fletcher to seize the custom house.’’ Fletcher did it, and the dogs of war were let loose at Vera Cruz. I saw the 815 middies in their drills, at their duties, and joined them in their sports. And seeing I better understood why young men I have gone forth from this place for nearly seventy years,’each with the idea determinedly fixed that he will liever give up the ship. A the point where the Severn river joins the Chespeake Bay, forming a harbor which will accommodate Uncle Sam’s biggest ships, Stands the United States Naval Academy. it is enclosed behind a great wall, and the gates fell upon an inspiring panorama. There stand three groups of magnificent buildings, and beyond is. the river, filled with torpedo boat destroyers, tugs and small craft of every description. One asks the name of the peculiar looking training ship, to be told that it ;is th© "Reina Mercedes,” captured from the Spaniards in Cuban waters during, 1898, and now used as a training and prison ship. Across the river is more government land, and .’a mile away is the famous, old Fo.rt Madison. Tlie attention of visitors is attracted by the Targe number of cannon and trophies of war, and as I read the inscriptions upon these veteran gtins, I learned that they were wrest- ! ed iron' t ' ! '“ Spaniards in Cuba six-! teen years ago, or taken bV Dewey ’ and his officers at Manila. There! tire plenty of relics from Vera Cruz ’ captured in 1845, and from the Latin American countries, which al-!

ways seem to be kicking up a rumpas. In the inspection of captured cannon and flags the conviction drives home that praeticaly all of our troubles for more than a hundred years have been confined to the Spanish -peaking pdople. The inscriptions all point out that the enforcement of the Monroe doctrine or of a policy <»: protection, has supplied the entire activities of a navy which has cost the people of the United States more money than would have been required to purchase outright all of Central and South America. For just as sure as one stands before and reads the inscriptions upon one of the trophies of our struggles with foreigners, just that sure we find Latin American as the factor in the disturbance. ‘ . The war spirit is at a high pitch at Annapolis, and a midshipman with whom I talked, explained it. "Everybody here wants to go to war. and we have petitioned Washington to graduate the first class immediately, instead of waiting until the regular graduation period, which will occur in June,” he said. Then he went on to explain that at he time of the Spanish-American war there existed a scarcity of naval officers, and not only was the graduation period advanced, but a three r class, which ordinarily would have remained at Annapolis, another year, was graduated in order to supply officers for our ships. Every graduate of Annapolis is commissioned as an ensign, which is the lowest rank of a commissioned officer, but advancement comes ■inhkly. . “We see,the pictures in the newspapers;” our midshipman told us, “and all these men like Fletcher, badger and the other officers are known to us, and their achievements become our personal triumphs and pride as well as their own.” And as the boy spoke we looked into his fine manly face, and beheld "The Spirit of 1914?’ Annapolis 'is one of the places Where you get those “thrille” that one reads about —those little crinkling movements that chase alpng the spinal column, and find outlet in enthusiastic explosions of the vocal organs; Across the drill grounds you watch them, fine manly young fellows who come from every part el, the United States, the gait and -carriage of.each showing how proud Im i- of lijs vocation. The way he holds his head and swells-out his <• es-t shows his pride in being a defender of the honor of his country. 1 hey are here for four years and ■he disciplineis so strict that every hour of the twenty-four must be accounted for by the individual who

enters Annapolis. - Each student is provided a liberal cash allowance, amounting to approximately S6O a month, which pays for uniforms, board and 'the annual visit home. Each year there is a cruise, during midsummer, and when the great battleships start for Europe, young men from Annapolis are placed on duty on the dreadnaughts and cruisers, and other vessels, clothed with full duties as officers. After four years the graduates take a place upon the battleships, and at first they receive approximately $2,100 a year as officers. How well these officers who get their first commissions at Annapolis perform their duties is told in the daily papers of today, under headlines of ports located in the Gulf of Mexico. Annapolis Academy was authors ized in 1845, and credit for it is given to George Bancroft, who was then Secretary of the Navy. His memorial is “Bancroft Hall,” one of the handsomest of the many buildings. Most of the structures are built of brick or gray stone material. Carvel Hall is the big hotel of Annapolis. It was here that Winston Churchill found Richard Carvel, and wound him into fiction and fame; and it was here that I discovered the distinctions between gold braided uniforms and tailored civilians, In the spacious corridors and on the verandas the young officers from the Academy are ever Found in large numbers, buzzing the pretty maidens whose mammas bring them there to find rest—or possibly husbands. Carvel Hall is the buzziest buzzing place I ever found. The saw mills we had out in northern Wisconsin never buzzed like the buzzing courtships of Annapolis. Bless the young people-—how I wish them happiness. Hungrily I went to the dining room door, and Lord Carvels butler, or some other Marylander’s black-hued master of ceremonies, politely ushered us into the rear dining room; while I was vainly protesting and expostulating that we wanted to sit at the windows next to the street in order that we might look across upon the Academy and the picturesque surroundings. But protests were all in vain and when I appealed to Sir James, the waiter at my table, he made it quite plain that only the officers and their ladies were privileged to sit near those sacred windows. Therefore humbly and meekly I bowed to the inevitable, swearing under .my breath that I would write a bitter line to confess my humiliation.

However I-forgot it all during the splendid afternoon that followed when 1 sailed as a guest with these same officers in the flotilla of bda|s that went up the river to see the contest between the boat crews of Harverd and the Navy. To show that the officers themselves are more polite than the hotel keepers. I have but to recall that the commander of the craft that carried us brought out his own heavy-ove'rcoat, in order that one di the ladies of the party should be better protected from the cold breezes. I swung into the spirit of the affair with these fine gentlemen, and that afternoon was truly wonderful. Imagine, if you can. grim, slate-colored torpedo boats carrying a gala excursion party to witness boat races. Somehow, I had never supposed before that there was any fun on this kind of craft; but here we were, steaming up the Severn river with a crowd who knew only gaiety and laughter, abroad craft that had driven manv Spanish speaking gatherings to their knees. Flags were flying every where. Hundreds.of midshipmmen and officers in their uniforms were cheering the Navy crew, an<J the finest torpedo boat destroyer of the lot carried the visitors from Cambridge. There were two eight oar crews from Cambridge and two from Annapolis; and as the fragile shells sped up the river in two races, the whistles from a dozen boats blew and shrieked, and cheering from hundreds of throats filled the air. As our eager eyes watched the spectacle, our little party of civilians felt glad that we were a part of a great country which was able to send these fine young men to sea to protect us against foreign foes.