The evening times., 1898-11-28
IN line TO BECOME
FIRST-CLASS TARS
District Boys on the Fern Pre-.
pairing for Cruises.
STUDYING NAVAL DUTIES
Holysioning Decks and Engaging in
Fire Drills.
STUDYING NAVAL DUTIES
Hard Work and Perfect Subjeetic N
to n Rigid discipline Cheerfuily
Accepted by Embryo Admirals.

A general hustle pervades the atmos-
phere on the practice ship Fern, of the
District of Columbia Naval Militia, as
it lays at anchor in the Potomac. The
sailor boys of the District are busily en-
gagged in drilling and perfecting them
selves for the cruises they expect TO take
on their vessel in the summer. The work
of enlisting the Third and Fourth divis-
ions as rapidly as possible. AS soon as
enough men are enlisted officers Of the
divisions will be selected.
In the appointment of the men in the
naval service of the District of Column
bia Militia il has heretofore held that no
one but those who have had experience
in the branch to which they are candi-
dates will be allowed TO wear the braided
uniforms of a commissioned officer and
rigid examination is therefore held.
Nearly all the present officers of the Re
serve are graduates of the Naval Acade-
my AT Annapolis, and are emInently quail
flied for the positions for which they are
appointed.
II is held by the members of the Naval
Battalion that it requires much more of
that quality peculiar to Americans called
nerve to enter the naval service than to
enlist in the military, and be a member
of one of the many companies of the Ma
tionai' Guard. They say the discipline is
more severe. and the work required of
them is harder. They are compelled to
scrub the decks, in the absence of the
janitor. who cleans out the armories of
the amateur soldiers, and they are re-
quired to spend a great deal more time
at drill, and learn a great many more
things than are their soldier comrades
The men are not grumbling at what most
would consider a hard lot. but they put
their shoulders to the wheel with a COM
mendable determination to do or die. and
they, in almost every case, end by doing
what is set before them
They have learned the fire drill and are
now able to extinguish the fiercest fire
that could burn on vessel of any de-
scription.
New drills are about to be taken up
which will perfect the amateur tars In
the art of seamanship and they are even
now anXiously awaiting the iay when
they will be allowed to get uD steam and
sail away. There is something new to be
learned in the naval service every day.
and the work never becomes irksome to
the men, for as fast as they have become
familiar with some new duty another
springs up and absorbs interest for a time.
although they are compelled to keep up
with all the branches they have thus far
been put through, and examinations are
held frequently.
The officers of the battalion are as hard
worked as the men, and are Very enthusi-
astic in laboring for the success of their
various commands. The brush the boys
had with the regular bluejackets Thanks
giving Day has served to put new energy
in both the officers and the men. On that
day as The Times reported, the crews
from the Dolphin and Fern held a boat
race, in which the Dolphin's Jackies came
off victorious.
1t is not to be expected that the WASH
ington men. who have to work all day and
study naval tactics at night will be as
perfect in the handling of the oars as the
boys of Uncle Sans crack ships, but
they gave a very good exhibition of what
men can do when they are properly train
ed, and a promise of better things in the
future. 1t is not the most comfortable
thing in the world to rush out on the I'M
protected deck of a vessel after being
housed up all day and, while the wind is
blowing gale, lower couple of whale
boats in the water and pull down the
river the length of a city block and back
again, especially when dressed in uni
form with a very low-waisted collar,
which catches and holds the cold air I'M
til the neck of the uniformed man is
frozen almost stiff. That is what the Ma
val Militia of the District of Columbia
were compelled to do before they could
even be defeated by the members of the
regular sea-fghting force, and a great
deal more of it is necessary before the
men ever expect to outrun all comers.
On these cold days the Fern Is perhaps
as wintry as any one place in the city,
and there is absolutely no comfort in per-
ambulating the decks at night.