The morning call., 1894-01-14

mi ssiOn afI er four years study ashore and two
years cruising. There are now III enSigOS,
some with very new commissions, few who
have been as much as ten years of that rank.
They thus range in age from 81 TO about 30.
Old naval officers who recall The days OF the
midshipmite are sometimes disposed 10 treat
the enSignS as boys, and IL is not many years
since ensigns % OF 80 years OF age found them
selves under sort Of discipline which required
them 30 go aboard ship by O'cloc> al night,
and in other ways their moral welfare was
watched over.
THE ENSIGN
Is ordinarily watch officer. He never COM
mandS even the smallest shin, unless every
body above him Is dead or disabled. a rare con-
tIngency in time of peace. Sometimes he be-
longs TO the wardroom mess aud sometimes he
meSses in the steeTage. along with the ma
val cadets, the paymaster's clerk and the like.
This arrangement is not so much for the sake
OF emphasizing distinctions of rank as 10 enabl
the ensign, whose sea pay is only from S1200
TO Sl4O0 according TO length of service, to
live more cDeaply than IL Is possible to live in
wardToom. Big ships have four or five en-
signs and little ships usually two. Their duties
are exactly those of other watch officers and
when an ensign Is temporarily off1cer OF the
deck he Is treated with the same ceremoniOus
consideration accorded TO man of higher rank
in like position. The younger rear-admIrals
usually have ensigns for secretaries, but
Junior Lieutenant performs that office for the
ranking re2r-admIals. The ensign OF % or
23 IS more H. e landsman OF like age than the
lieutenant OF 80 Is like d landsmau Of his own
years. Six years of naval training usually
does not transform The inland bred Youth into
an offcer with all The prejudices and acquired
instincts OF caste. The ensign OF 80 has pre- ty
nearly hardened into lieutenant. IL
is interesting and instructive to note
the development of these two ex-
tremes OF the ensign list. Every ensign
is a man OF good physique, fair technical adi-
cation. excellent training and some social ac-
complishments. The younger men retain
pecularltles OF speech and manner such as one
would expect 10 find in young men gathered
from all parts OF vast continent, from homes
flcn ana poor, rural aud urban, refined and
crude. One occasionally encounters In the en-
sign The marks OF coarse, uDdisciplined
nature, snobblshly mindful OF the social privl-
leges belonging to his profession and of the
rank that may one day be his distinction. One
more often hnds the ensign graceful. modest,
well-manDered young man, particularly proud
OF his profession and conscious that the obliga-
tioE of manllness and courtesy rests upon one
who carries beneath his simple jacket the gilt
tering bullion of tue admiral. The list OF en-
signs, when you see II set down upon a piece of
paper, has a Enthusiastically American look
1t Includes many English names, some Scotch.
Irish. German, French and a few HebIe W
names. You detect here and there a name
already distinguished In the navy, since naval
officers like their sons TO follow in their fathers
footsteps and the President sometimes ap-
points at large the son OF a captain or an
admiral.
ENTHUSIASM IS CHAR hCTERIsTIC
Commonly found in the ensign and rare in the
higher ranks OF the navy. The ensign is still
mindful OF his triumphs AT the Naval Academy,
ana he has seen the advantage of precedence
gained by standing high IN his class. Promo.
tion is never more than ten years ahead of him
and there is always possibility that the long
promised reorganization of the navy NAV
shorten for him that deadenng twenty years OF
stagnation in the grades of lieutenan. He is
seldom hardened into cynicism, and ii he be 2
simple man his account with the paymaster is
moi necessarily a subject to be contemplated
WITH reg ct. The ensign is favorte with the
ladies', Tor lie has the inextinguishable charm oil
youin the grace OF straight limbs in the most
beautifully simple OF uniforms. and the promise
OF future rank.