Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-03-23

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passed my entrance examination to
the Naval Academy September To- lSbO'
and reported. as an acting midshlpman
on hoard the frigate Constltutlon-"old
1ronsides"-on the twentieth OF the
same month, The examination, Tor
tunately for many Of US, was very
simple one; nothing like the elaborate
and trying AFFAIR OF today otherwise
many Of us would not have followed
the navy as a profession, The candl-
date had TO be sound physically ana
TO have a fair foundation on which to
build the education required Of a sea
officer. who was not In that day ex-
pected to be an engineer, a chemist a
scientist. an electrician o lawyer an
artist. as ne Is today-only seaman
and gunner with the necessary
knowledge of things that pertalned 70
the sea. The superintendent Captain
George s. Blake, was assisted by half
a dozen officers, selected for their iit-
ness, and as many civil professors.
Among the officers were two brothers,
C. X, r. and George Rodgers, lieuten-
ants. both OF whom made their mark
in the service and wrote their names
high up In the history Of the navy
which they loved so well and did so
much TO honor We had never had
two officers whose standards were
higher or whose conduct reflected
greater credit to the country than that
OF those two. G. r. =, Rodgers was
commandant OF midshipmen and
George Rodgers was captain OF the
Constitution, and TO them ] owe every
thing IN my professional life.
We had one hundred and twenty
seven men I'm the class when we settled
down to work. an average lot from all
parts Of the country, and representing
the various classes OF American life
North, South, East and West | was
the only one from Utah, and ] believe
the first one ever appointed from that
Territory either In the navy or the
army our life on board ship was
pleasant and novel, and our education
on the lines that would TT us for the
duties we should in the future have to
perform English studies occupied
a considerable part Of our time, but
practical seamanshlp and gupnery were
considered the important things and
they were hammered into us so hard
by our honored captain that we had
to learn them in spite Of ourselves.
Many showed wonderful oleverness,a and
after few months the class standing
in seamanship placed the men about as
they have since stood In the service.
The Constitution was moored at the
end OF long. narrow wharf. which
was the only means OF approach unless
by boat, so that the class was COM
pletely isolated from the older classes.
We never came In contact with them
except when on shore for drill, or on
Saturday when we passed their quar-
tiers on our way 10 the town on lib
erty. All our Rotations and most Of
our drills took place on board ship I'm
der such conditions the disgraceful haz-
Ing, which later on gave the Naval
Academy such bad name, was lmpos-
sible. even had the temper Of the mid
shipmen been such as TO tolerate II. At
the time OF which | am writing hazng
was absolutely unknown and ! am
sure that any attempt TO practice il
would have led to a duel behind old
Fort Severn. II was not until we
reached Newport, and the senior classes
had been ordered into service. that this
brutal, and | must say cowardly. prac-
tice took root and grew until Il was
n disgrace 10 all those engaged I'm H.
BY some means the classes entering af-
ter 1867 got the idea from West Point
and In their zeal to emulate really went
TAR beyond the practices Of that ex-
cellent institution, where hazing Of
certain Kind was a tradition, and con-
sidered necessary to the discipline OF
the cadets among themselves. With
us the proper class distinctions and re-
spect were traditions which did not re-
quire hazine to enforce them. re-
member very well one Saturday after
noon. Two of u.s. both very small, were
passing the quarters Of the first class
on our way to town on liberty, when
Two seniors thought II would be good
run to put us down on the grass and
sit on us. They promptly carried out
their plan, and sat on us FIVE minutes
or so and then let us go. We returned
10 tne snip mad all over and In few
minutes we swarmed back with most
Oh our class, and there was beautiful
hsht which resulted in many black
eyes. This was about the nearest an
proach to hazlng we ever had
AFRAID HE WAS GOING TO RE
HANGED.
The discipline was strict aboard shin
from the start, and we were expected
20 observe the regulations as soon as
Iney mad been made clear to us, /
had formed warm friendship for a
Young fellow from Mississippi named
Baldwin. and he somehow hecaro d.