Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-07-29
corrrspondence Of The Evening star.


bbAEsWAlS saARP-Oy THE CRUISE.
Correspondence Of The Evening Star
U. s. NAVAL AcADEMT,
ANNAPOLIS, Nd, July 90. 1892.
II is often asserted that the navy is run in q
Fixed groove ard that dcviations from old Gus
toms are frowned down as inconsistent with
the memory Of Fsrragut and Porter, but TO q
graduate u only one short year ago the academy
looks so different that it might be said to ''be
getting out Of the groove" In the DAYS gone
by the second class summer rs the three
summer months during which only the second
class remain at the academy for training in the
machine shops and drills are called, was time
when the books were closed. eight hours drill
Was substituted for twelve hours study and
certain relaxa.ions in discipline allowed more
frequent visits to "wiegard's Ice Cream Parlor"
possible: but the girls that hutter around In
the winter to make n cadets heart glad and bis
marks in study sad were gone to the Sen shore
and the mountains to walk and ride and talk
and fiirt with some ignominious ''cit," rs all
civilians are dubbed by the Annapolis middies
But now q change has come and on Saturday
night the 'bOst house il agiare with light and
the second classmen have coaxed the pretty
girls from the seaside and the mountain to At
tend their summer hops And what officer can
object to this. for while n man cannot easily
think Of brown eyes and tossing curls. and
''bone out the intricacies Of navigation and
mathematics at the same time, II isn't any
trouble Mt all to think Of the same pretty girl
before glaring forge q whiriing lathe.
AMUsIc ROOM.
Another departure from the groove" Is the
transformation of the old reception room into
music room." with a piano. soft curtains
and easy chairs, yes and pictures on the wall;
not the cigarette advertisements that cadets
used to tack on the inside of the old pine ward
robes. but real engravings. and here any young
Beethovens may exercise their muse fancy
free.
Speaking of this innovation recently. an
officer who has been away from the academy
manv wears said: "Music, well III be -;
the only music ever had was a cracked bugle
or a plebes concert: the naval academy is going
to the deal. but il still thrives and still turns
out the regulation number Of young officers
A boat club would naturally seem TO be the
first athletic club thought of In q school Of this
kind. but this is the first year for q long time
that one has been organized, and the announce
ment that il is to row the Severn Boat Club
of Annapolis soon may carry visions Of future
hurels with the oars for the cadets And there
was q time in the seventies when the academy
had boat clubs. and crews that could win, rs
the trophy flags in the mess hall that so few
cadets have ever even inquired about attest.
SURPRISING cARELEssSEss.
This utter carelessness on the part of cadets
to learn what the many trophies in the acad-
envy commemorate is surprising to an outsider.
was recently surprised to find that among a
large crowd Of cadets not one knew the origin
of the two little brass guns at the main en-
trance to the new quarters. They were the sa-
luting battery Of the old Yacht America and
we're carried by her when she first won the
yacht championship from the English of the
English. coast In 1873, and were afterward pre-
sented to the Naval Academy by Gen. B. F.
Butler. Then some have to be told that the
old bronze bell, with its queer decorations,
that hangs below the band stand. was a trophy
of the famous visit Of Commodore Perry to
japan that opened the ports Of Japan to our
merchant navy and started her on q career Of
advancement and success. The bell was not
from one Of the sacred bells Of Japan but one
that had been captured in war BY them from an
island of the coast of Korea, and its inscrip-
ton. when translated literally, shows that its
makers had an idea of poetis language and
thought.
IT am made to wake the birds in the holy
forest. that they may sing praises to the i've
gods-snd sing, too'-at least that was what
Viscount KagR Kazu Nire. who was a cadet in
The class of 81 from the empire of Japan, said
the strange figures on the bell meant. and every
one who has met the genial viscount that tried
the life Of an American midshipman for four
years at Annapolis cannot doubt their truth
There is one more relic that few OF the cadets
know Of For years an old rusty, nl-shapen
anchor, pounded and battered, has lain in the
grass Of Hyde Park, back Of the gymnasium,
and it has history. When the old line of bat
tie ship Philadelphia went over in 1903 to
take part in the war with Tripols she lost her
anchors, and il became necessary to make one
Under the hot tropical sum- on the sands Of the
African coast, the blacksmiths of the old Phila-
delphia hammered out this anchor and if'it was
. little long shanked" and cock billed" il
atill held the old shi in
TILL IL was replaced by "a better one and sent
lahore TO end its days just like any other one of
the ships crew.
BoArswAIS sHARP's DEATH.
Last week at Norfolk navy yard. on the old
receiving ship Franklin, an old tar that many
Naval Academy people will remember died at
the age Of eighty-two wears. This was Boat
swain's Mate Hendrick sharp, one Of the noted
characters of the service. He was born in NAL
aga. Spain, in 1910. and enlisted in 1926 on the
Fulton. the first steam man-of-war ever built
for any navy. From that time till his death
last week Sharp served continuously and with
honor in the navy. He Was one Of the crew Of
the brig somers in ls43, when Midshipman
Spencer was hung ut the ward arm for mutiny,
and he Wa always fond of telling the strange
story of the Inflated midshipman, who
gave his life for a crime he never really
guilty of. At the famous naval battle Of
Mobile bay III 1854 he was a gun captain on the
engage
ments Of The late war he won distinction, being
twice wounded in battle.
After the war he served in every ocean ON
the globe. and for several years was in the sea.
manship department at Annapolis, where old
Norman. a seaman of nearly as wide an expert
ence as Sharp, now holds forth caring for the
models and keeping their neat miniature rig
ging '-tsut and snug"
Such men are always popular with officers and
receive every favor that can bo given them.
EXTENSION OF THE aHouSps.
or the changes during the last year the most
noticeable is the extension Of the grounds to the
westward ~ far rs College creek, taking in about
ten acres, and the addition of several new
officers quarters in the new grounds. thus Civ
ing all the officers At the academy quarters in
stead Of compelling many of them to live out in
the city. as in former years This ID a great ad-
vantage, for while the officers Of high rank
always had quarters, formerly the younger
married officers who could least afford II were
compelled to rent quarters in the city.
on THE CRUISE.
The first, third and fourth classes who are on
their practice cruise for the summer on the
Constellation, are enjoying the summer i'm
mensely at New London. The ship goes out in
the sound for evclutions and drills during the
week and spends Saturday and SUNDAY at
anchor in the Thames Of New London.
giving the cadets an opportunity 70 enjoy the
numerous hope and receptions that the resi-