Evening star., 1898-05-07
Excellent Opportunities That Are
Open to Apprentices.
4 lice THAT MAKES MEN OF THEM
Whether They Quit the Service or
Ship as BIuejackets.
CHANCES FOR PROMOTION

Written for The Evening Star.
Apprenticeship in the United States navy
is capable of making either a man or a
| reprobate of a boy. Just what manner of
| chap he shall be when he attains his ma
| jcrfty in the service and is at liberty to
quit or ship as a full-iedged bluejacket.
as he chooses, depends altogether on the
| boy. He is given every Undue ment to be-
come a good solid man. whether for con-
| tinuation as a member of man-of-war's
| ships company or for the earning of a
| livelihood ashore. The officers of the Amer
| lean navy give the apprentice boys consid-
erably the better of it over the bluejackets
who ship such in all that concerns their
interest and advancement, and the boy who
during the period that he wears the ap-
prentices figure-of-eight knot on his mus
| tering shirt goes wrong and becomes a
| rowdy and a sea lawyer has only his own
| innate cussedness to blame for il. The
whole tendency of the apprentices train
| ing aboard an American man-of-war makes
for the conversion of the Lao into a digni-
fled, seif-cOntrolled, able man, a matchless
seaman and tiptop gunner, to say nothing
OF the substantial equipment il furnishes
Eim for lucrative employment ashore
! should he elect upon the conclusion of his
apprenticeship to settle down on the beach
For example, the writer often meets upon
TIE streets of Washington a young fellow
who has earned distinction. not 10 speak OF
exceedingly substantial reward in the way
| of money. as an expert electrician of the
hrst class Less than three years ago this
young man was wearing the apprentices
blueJacket uniform on a ship attached to
the Pacific squadron. He learned the bulk
OF his electricity in the navy, which he en-
tered as an orphan, took the seaman gum
per course at the navy yard here, and eN-
fibited such genius that the officers took
ihtlal llxr sv,
with facilities for the highest studies, and
sought in every way to push him along
He Is a born electrician. and be could ha We
mad gunners commission in the navy for
the asking. He preferred 'the beach,
however, and it is said that for over a
year he has been securing an average of
one valuable electrical patent a month
Inc United States navy employs today a
| number of the young mans appliances for
use in connection with great guns.
Gunner kuhIwein.
The last time the writer saw young Gam.
| rer kuhlwein of the flagship Olympia, that
was such big floating factor in tearing
things loose in Manila harbor on Sunday
last, the lad was working a black silk
star ON the crown of his apprentices mus
terlag cap, seated on a ditty box on the
receiving ship Independence at the Mare
Island navy yard Now he is a gentleman
OF the quarterback, rates a salute from
taught him how to be a sailor and "a manly
man, and when the full reports of the Man
ia engagement are received it is safe 10
wager that the Olympas gunner's name
will have a place-for the boy always
looked as If he had 1t in him.
1t is the Old sailors. the men who have
spent about equal number of years in
the merchant marine and in the United
States navy, who possess the greatest
power for good or evil I'm making or break
ing American naval apprentices. The Of
| ficers aft hold the lads with a strong rein
when they have them under immediate in
struction, but the boys live forward among
the men, ard they form their characters I'm
| the fo'cstle. II the material is in them it
! Is bound to come out. The old-time naval
sailors can tell at a glance whether a Just
| shipped boy or boy fresh aboard a cruis-
ing man-of-war from a training ship, has
| the makings of a finished sailor and a
| good shipmate in his composition. II their
careful inspection Of such a boy convinces
them that the lad is worth their pains they
go to work" on him from the very outset
OF his cruising career, season him with all
OF the practical ship-and-gun Information
| that they themselves have picked up after
years OF experience, and thus vaIuably sup
| plement the technical education that the
boy receives from the officers. The sailors
who thus take kindly interest in q boy
who looks promising do not treat him with
partiaiity and he gets swatted about Just
| as much as the apprentice who is a slug
| gard and 'dont-care-a-d-n." as the
say III UlSSuSteQly speaking
among themselves of ambitioniess lads in
the apprentice uniform.
A Matter of Pride.
But the interest they exhibit in drilling
sea lore into his mind, and their pains in
instructing him on every little valuable de-
tail as the occasion arises. plainly shows
that they have got him in their minds"
and observation proves that the boys who
are thus picked out by the old-timers up
forward as being worth these efforts are
TIE lads who get the warrant officers
ei9uses when their apprenticeship is over.
ASK any warrant officer in the United
states navy today about the struggle he
had to finally attain the wearing of a
sword from the wearing of a figure-of-eight
krot, and ne will begin to speak affection
ately OF two or three grumpy, savage old
DO suns mates or Quartermasters to whom
ne claims he owes most of his success II
is matter Of pride with the old-timers to
thus boost a lad up the ladder
Look a-here, ye blooming little swab"
the writer once heard old man-of-war
armorer say to a bright but somewhat un-
ruly apprentice, don't you hand me none
o your jaw. Yen have plenty O. time TO
put it on me and slam me into the brig
after I've made gunner O. ye." The cid
rsn-of-war'S man did make a gunner of
his protese In time, but up to the present,
although the two have since been shin.
mates. the young gunner has never had a
hand in getting the old man into the brig
though he has helped to get him out a few
tines.
Works Queer CbanEes.
Observation shows that the apprentices
who go into the bluejacket uniform as
tough" and incorrigible boys become sem
sible, self-restrained and reliable seamen
by the time they attain their majority. On
the other hand, the lads who exhibit traits
of goody-goodness upon their entrance to
the service become. in nine cases out of
ten. hard customers in the course of their
apprenticeship and not of much account
either for men-of-war or the shore. The
reason for this Is not hard to discover. Be-
fore entering the navel service the unman-
ageable boys have had their whirl at juye-
nile Righteousness. have mingled in the vor-
tex of boyish wildness. and are about ready
when they find themselves in the bell-bot-
tom trousers. to pipe down" and to make
something out of their opportunities. Be
Ing tough. they are not easily contami-
mated by the burly roughness of speech and
manner as displayed by the old-timers. The
milk-and-water. ginger-lacking boy, on, the
contrary, who enters the service with his
mind somewhat too fully stocked with pre-
cepts. maxims. rules Of conduct and shin
mr. loo nf lo<