The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-21
LIEUTENANT OF THE LINE.
Some Characteristics of the Men that Be-
come Commanders and Admirals.

| states navy the Vision that arises be-
fore his minds eye is the lieutenant
this because the genuine lieutenant is
| line officer, and because there are
more lieutenants than there are line
officers of all the higher grades com
bined. To the civilian the line officer
is the only sure enough military sailor,
and all others are mere civilians with
make-believe titles The Lieutenant is
| the type of the American line officer.
He has been cadet midshipman: he
| may become rear-admiral. He has
| been long enough in the service to have
acquired its characteristic tastes and
habits. He is long enough out of civil
| life to have forgotten many of the
things that interest mere shore folk.
He is deep-sea sailor, with love for
| blue water, and the flush or bronze Of
dozen tropic chimes upon his cheek.
There are three hundred and TWEEN
ty-five lieutenants on the active lists
of Uncle Sans navy. seyenty-fve be-
ing of the junior grade, or one step
above the ensign. The slang term in
the navy for senior lieutenant is
bull lieutenant The bull iieuten-
ant has been from nine to thirty years
| ont Of the naval academy, and he NAV
| reasonably hope to be a captain, if
! ever in from twenty to twenty-five
years. All things considered. the three
hundred and twenty-five lieutenants
| include the flower of the navy They
have whatever educa ton and discipline
come of passing successfully, through
the naval academy and weathering
many cruise. They are neither boys
! nor dotards, and certainly, if one were
to search the navy for the best
| equipped men physically, one would
find them among the lieutenants.
When the civilian first finds himself
guest at the wardroom table he is
struck with the fine physique. military
bearing, courtesy, and aplomb of the
lieutenants. They are broad-should
cred, full-chested, good-looking men,
between thirty and forty-five years of
age. The executive officer, who sits at
the head of the wardroom table and
represents the ma iesty of the captain,
Is as often as not a lieutenant. So is
the navigator. Many of the men who
teach the cadets at Annapolis are of
this grade. The specialists of the navy
are in large part lieutenants. Half
the scientific work done by the navy
falls upon the ieutenants. So does
half the exploring. A lieutenant fig
ures in every dangerous quest as a
man of responsibility. if not of author
ity. Naval lieutenants are in all parts
of h1,a Il 81, ,,1
duty. One is with ecintercontinenta
railway commission, one commands
naval station in the far northwest, one
is studying electric lights at Norfolk,
others are inspecting ordnance, COM
manding survey vessels, and testing
steel.o
The naval lieutenant is, perhaps, of
all men in the navy, the strongest par
tisan of line against staff From his
place in the ward-rcom he has peculiar
opportunities for seeing the inequality
of the shares of work falling upon the
two arms of the service. He is. above
all other officers, a man with griev-
ance- He knows, perhaps, that he
must be retired a griZzled veteran be-
fore he shall have attained the rank of
commander. He has married, possibly
as ensign, ten or fifteen years before,
and has wife and family living in
some little city of village upon a share
of the husbands modest pay. His old
est boy, STRIPPING already above his
fathers shoulder, visits the ship in
home ports now and then, an object of
we'll bred curiosity and of some genu-
Inc interest to the other inmates of the
wardroom. There is touch of the pa
thetic in the fact, however. that the
boy might pass through the naval
academy, obtain his commission as en-
sign, and stand watch on the same deck
with his father, separated from him,
indeed, by grade and rank, but his
equal in authority.
The civilian, seeing the lieutenant
aboard ship in that simple and beauti-
full undress uniform which suits SO well
stalwart masculine figure, finds it
difficult to believe that the man before
him is quite ready to recognize the
mere landsman as an equal The
civilian is not likely TO discover the con-
trary as long as he is guest of the
wardroom, since courtesy is the rule
there, and every visitor is made to feel
himself welcome. Lieutenants are made
of much the same stuff as civilians.
There are some thousands of persons in
this country who grow up to believe
themselves properly separated from the
rest of their fellow citizens by birth or
some other distinction, and some of
these, entering the navy. come IN time
to be lieutenants. In doing this they
usually do not lose the prejudices Of
their early bringing up. There are
other thousands who are snobbish
enough to envy any sort of distinction
in others, whether of birth, rank or
title, and some of these enter the navy.
When such men reach the rank of
civilians upcomfortably conscious of
the fact that lieutenant /
may in time become an admiral, /
and the companion of presidents. or
even of kings But in spite of the es-
sentially aristocratic structure OF the |
navy, so broadly popular is now its |
basis, that the democracy of the coun- |
try makes itself felt even in the ward |
room. There are snobs who feel that 1
the military man is far above the mere |
civilian and occasionally the landsman /
who comes aboard ship as the guest OF 4
a Junior is made to feel the existence OF !
this sentiment. Goldfish rudeness that /
excites shame and indignation at the /
wsrd-roorn table Perhaps every beu- |
tenant has a shade of regret in pres
ence OF the fact that while his rank 1
and uniform would obtain for him IN /