The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-18


fashion Of such a kind Of boys, he imme-
diately begins to become unconsciously in
oeulated with the purely surface manners
of the older men under whom he serves,
emphasizes the display of these manners
in his own person, and sooner or later be-
comes more or less Of a rowdy.
When a naval apprentice exhibits a de-
sire from the outset Of his seafaring ca
reer to be bad and ornery. for the sake
Of gaining what he thinks IS the approval
and admiration of the old-time sailors,
he Is In fair way to earn for himself
the contempt of all hands fore and aft.
The old-timers for the idle purpose of
having fun with such a lad, encourage
MIN 10 believe that he is the worst son
of sea cook that ever picked his teeth
with Delaying pin, but they have no ac-
tual use for him, and never lend their
efforts to making anything of him. 1t is
the manly boy, who declines to be either
coddled or buldozed, and who, above all,
has a controllable tongue in his head,
that Invariably shows strong in the
stretch when the race is on for the braid-
ed blouses and the gilt-ornamented caps.
The rapidity with which boobyishness is
yanked out of very young boys who enter
the navy Is remarkable. From his very
first day on board either a training ship
or a man-of-war proper, the unfiedged
youngster is expected to hop right out
of his boyhood and assumes, to all in
tents and purposes, the full status or
man. He lives among men that have
ranged the world most of their lives; he
works alongside of them, and almost as
much work is expected of him as from
the old-timers; he puts up with the same
amount of hardships, toes the same mark
of discipline, is quite as responsible at
the mast for derelections and just as IL
4 able to tour in the brig in double irons
for misconduct as his older shipmates
who regard the circumnavigation of the
globe as a bagatelle.
The boy who at the outset of his naval
life sheds a lonesome tear or two in his
hammock but who keeps up brave front
when in view of his shipmates, is the lad
! VINO may be always marked for a winner.
1t would be out of nature for a youngster
of any sort of sensibilities whatsoever to
plunge into man-of-War life, with all Of
its apparent rigidity at first sight, with
out being a bit taken aback and oppressed
by the roughness of it all. But the plucky
boys buckle down, and force themselves
to become used to it, and even during
their first liberty lubberly days at sea they
never approach to the verge of deck whim-
perng The little Lord Fauntleroy sort Of
| lad had better keep out of the navy. The
| navy Is composed, as a whole, fore ana
aft, of genuine, masculine men, and of
| deeply affectionate and unswervingly loyal
| men, too, when their esteem and conf
| dence have been won; but in no environ
ment Is the parade of even the slightest
suspicion of sentimentality more quickly
| frowned upon than upon the forward deck
OF man-of-war. If a small kedge anchor
| happens to crush a blue Jackets foot his
! sympathetic shipmates, deeply feeling for
| the INFUSED man, assemble around HIS
| bunk in the sick bay and call him id
| lubber' and 'hay huckster" for permit
| ting himself to get hurt that way That
| Is their way of expressing sympathy, and
I the injured man knows it and appreciates
| it. If his shipmates were to condole with
| him and mournfully tell him how sorry
they were, and all that sort of thing, he
would turn over on his bunk and tell them
| to go to the devil In a floating community
| such as a man-of-war therefore, the boy
| of weak heart and of lily-liyered vision
! can no hnbitation of peace, much less of
eventual honor.
From the purely physical point of view,
| apprenticeship in the navy is a fine thing
| for lad. Nine out of ten naval appren-
tees, when they attain their majorities,
| are strapping, rugged, brawny men, capa-
bic of enduring any amount of hardship,
and possessing quality of health and
soundness that is Aund to see them
| through many ups and downs ashore,
| should they elect to quit the sea when they
reach the age of (which not many of
| them do, by the way. OF course, in order
to get into the navy al all, the apprentice
must be sound of body, but many of the
| lads only get into the service by narrow
| margins owing TO their being understood
| or of no very rugged character of physical
makeup. Once they get to work on the
| decks of a man-of-war, providing there is
! nothing latent and constitutional the mat
| ter with them, it is amazing to see how the
| lads begin TO spread and grow. They are
| put through the most exactng exercises.
! quite aside from their daily bit of heavy
! work-exercises that are designed 10
I bring every muscle Of the body into play;
1 and the result is that they very soon begin
| to expand, and the steel gets into their
| muscles, there to remain as long as they
| live After a year or so In the bluejacket
| uniform, most naval apprentices begin to
| look so entirely unlike, as to bodily forma-
| ton, the way they sized UP when they
! first entered the naval service, as TO puzzle
I their own people on visiting days. The
writer has often enjoyed the spectacle
| when the mothers of the naval apprentices
! have visited them aboard ship after the
| boys have been to sea on long cruises
There is something touching. primitive,
| and of first principles In the mother love
| that beams from the eyes of these women
when, right at the main gangway and in
/ full sight of all hands-'and be id T. all
o. yeez," says the old bosun's mate, look
ing on-they are EMBODIED in the arms of
their towering, great-shouldered and iron
muscled sons, lifted clear Of the deck no
matter what their weight chucked ard
| clipped under the chin, and then bodily
| hauled off to a remote ships corner for a
! long talk and cuggermuggering.
| Hes all mine," speaks the look in the
/ woman's eyes.
| When the apprentices emerge from their
| apprenticeship and ship over as full-fedg>
ed blue jackets, at the seaman gunner
| rate, they are given first call in the distri-
button of the petty officer prizes, and are,
| as stated, eligible for promotion to the
| rank of warrant officers. For these rea-
sons, apprentices are never called upon,
| during the services as boys, to perform
| any mental tasks on shipboard. Landsmen
are shipped to wait upon the officers aft.
| but no apprentice lad is ever asked by
an officer to perform the slightest personal
service for him. The boys routine is the
military routine. and he is not required to
do anything that would run counter to
his IDEAS of strict personal independence
He may become the striker" for his own