Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1879-07-26
similar privileges to other ports, as
folloma. That fn nmn nautical

similar privileges to other ports, as
follows: That, to promote nautical
education, the secretary of the navy
is empowered to furnish, upon the
application In writing of the COVER
nor of a state, a suitable vessel of the
navy, with all her apparel, charts,
books, and instruments of navigation
provided the same can be spared with
out detriment to the naval service,
for the instruction of youths in navi-
CATION, s%eamanship, marine enginery,
and all matters pertaining to the prop
er construction, equipment, and sail
ing of vessels; and the president Is
authorized tt detail proper officers of
the navy as superintendent and ILL
structors in such schools.
Besides New York. San Francisco
availed itself of the enactment; but
the Jamestown being loaned to that
city, the vessel was returned to the
government last winter after an uG-
successful experiment, and the ST.
Marys is now the only nautical school
existing under the law.
The preparation of a suitable code
was q difficult matter. A good class
of scholars was sought-superior to
those who would enter the naval
training-ships aud rs the school was
tentative, it was thought best 10 I'M
pose as few restrictions as possible
upon them. For this reason the dur
alton OF his stay has been left to the
option of the scholar; and though
the course is for two years, he may
retire at any time. Candidates tor
admission must not be under fifteen
years of age nor v twenty. and
they must be of a sound constitution,
and free from all physical defects.
They must evince some aptitude or
inclination for seattle, and bring with
them a certificate of good moral
character. Previous to the opening
of the nautical school, a schoolship
fer the reformation of juvenile Often
ders was stationed III the harbOr, and
the former has been COMPOUNDED with
the latter, which is no longer in eX-
istence, but the fact of the matter is
that 10 who has been convicted
of a crime can be admitted OIL board
the st. Marys, and boys of evil dis
position are not retained. Successful
candidates are received at any time.
They are required to bring with them
two pairs of boots, three towels, three
pairs of heavy socks, three pairs Of
heavy drawers, three heavy UNDER
shirts, three Observation-Disclosures,
various brushes, combs, and the odds
and ends for repairing that are always
found in a sailors ditty-bag. Two
suits of clothes, caps, a hammock and
blankets are provided by the ship,
aud charged against a deposit of
thirty-five dollars made when the
schn1or aufopo. un6 ovcopt tho triniru
cost of replacing OIL repairing boots
and underwear, this sun covers all
the expenses of q two years. course
on board the St. Marys. If at the
end of his first year a boy engages to
second year, the charges against him
are wiped out, and the whole amount
Of the original deposit is again placed
to his credit. Few Institutions are
established OH a more liberal basis,or
offer so favorable an opportunity for
obtaining q cOmmon-school education
combined with a practical knowledge
of the duties of a eaman ; but unless
a boy has fully made UP his mind to
be a sailor, and has the physical
strength to endure certain hardships,
the nautical school is not the place
for him, and time spent there will be
fruitless.
The course includes reading, writ
ing, spelling, geography, arithmetic
and English grammar. This part
savors too much of the shore to be
appreciated; it is prosaic, and u
new boy is apt to consider it irksome.
But the exercises in seamanship, the
making of knots, bitches and bends
of wonderfully varied and unaccount-
able nomenclature, sall-mending and
sail-bending, are entered upon with
zeal and pleasure. Should you ask
the new boy the name of the smallest
rope with the longest name, he would
probably be ably to glibly tell you,
at the end of his first month on board,
that it is the acknowledgements
MISUNDERSTANDING; anu Ill
a short time he becomes a master of
the conundrums which old salts have
invented for the mystification of
young ones. He a tell you what
is forward on the starboard side, aft
on the port side, and inside on the
outside; how to pass a nipper, or
clap on a jigger how TO choke a
huff, or snake the backstays; how to
fleet a purchase, or crown a crotch
rope !; how 10 make a grommet or an
| artificial eye ; how to make a Spanish
fox or a Turks mead !; and the mean-
ing of a withe, n gammoning, a cats
paw, a sheep shank; an Irish splice,
the whiskers, the jumpers, a cocks
comb, a gasket, a tripshaw, a camel,
a Flemish hare, and a ring-tall-all
these being nautical terms. lie can
name every sail above the sky-sail on
the most preposterOusly overweight
| ell clipper-the. moon-sails, star-gaZ-
ers, sky-scrapers and heayen-disturb-
| ers. His education includes the whole
catalogue of bitches, bends, clinches,
hawsers, and spices ; the Glove hitch,
the timber hitch, the Blackwell hitch,
the rolling hitch, and two half hitch
es; the sheet bend and the curricle
bend ; the inside clinch and the out
side clinch; the carrick bend, the
marline hitch, and the hacking.
| Weather forecasts are put in rhyme
for him, and from constant repetition
become indelibly impressed upon his
memory
ga red sky in the morning
Sailors, take warning;
A red sky at night
Is u sailors delight
''The evening red, the morning gray,
Are SUIT signs of n fine day;
But the evening gray and morning red
Make the sailor shake his head.'
''lf the mist comes DER the open sea,
Then fair weather, shipmate it will be; =
But if the mist comes of the land,
Then ram comes pouring DER the strand"
"With the rain before the wind,
Your top-sail sheets and halyards mind
But when the winds before the rain,
You may hoist your top-sails up again"
The printed questions put to him
at the examinations cover about fifty
pages as large as those of Harper't
Magazine. He learns how to scull,
row, steer and sail a boat how tc
box the compass, steer by the com
pass, and take compass bearings
how to heave the lead ; how to swim
and how to bend, loosen, furl anC
roof q ooil Tho iN,t,ror 80 ~;