Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-05
ADMIRALs TO ORDER
NEW SYSTEM OF EDUCATING Of
FIcERs FOR THE BRITISH NAVY.


From the London Mall
Without the consent Of parliament. and
unaccompaniod by any flourish of trumpets.
the admiralty introduced It's chiefest reform
into the affairs OF the British navy when IT
revolutionized the whole system OF educat-
ing naval officers.
Briefly this reform may be described as
catching a boy young and making him an
admiral in efficiency by the time he is one
and twenty. 1t is held by Sir John Fisher
and others that the sailor must be made
out of the plant and nctile material of boy
hood. not out of the set and solid substance
or manhood. Give me n boy young Sir
John Fisher once said to me, land I'll make
him into anything"
visit to Osborne tustiaes this claim
You see there little boys not yet in their
teens taking the most consuming and SOL
emn interest In all the mighty and complex
details of sea craft. In the engineering
shops you will behold little fellows who
have to stand tiptoe TO reach the engines
sweating like heroes at their work In the
drawing offices they bend over intricate
plans with the earnestness OF men conscious
OF responsibility. They are never frivolous
Eever bored. never sulky. They are not
schoolboyS: they are Mr. Smith and Mr.
Brown, gentlemen cadets of his matesty's
navy If Capt. Wemyss were to drop the
Mister In addressing them these serious
young gentlemen would be wounded in the
very quick OF their souls.
roferm introduced recently into this re-
formed system of education will declare
LUMINOSITY to the reader both the object
and the wisdom of the admiralty 1t was
found at first that the boys worked well In
the engineering shops, but without that
spring and enthusiasm which are the most
forcibie impulses in education. Inquiry
showed that our future Nelson's rather re-
scented being put to engineering work mere
ly to learn and not for the creative pur-
poses of actual need. Whereupon the ad-
miralty revised this part of Its program.
and now the cadets at Osborne produce
ing In their shops. like skilled workmen. de-
tails of engineering to be used for practical
purposes In the ships and dockyards OF his
majestys navy. There Is now such an en- .
thusiasm among these boys is hardly to
be matched In the workshops of the world.
1t Is the high seriousness of these young
gentlemen which most impresses the Wis
uor. They are the least Self-conscious OF
boys. Enter one of the schoolrooms and
you will notice that not a boy looks up at
you. There is no whispering. no side glance
and no blushing when they are spoken to
their work with a dead earnestness. The
task is pleasant to them and the object
ahead Is magnificent There Is no room
for frivolity and self-consciousness In their
eager minds. They workmen. factors
in the navy.
But they not prigs. In the playing
fields no school show greater anima-
ton or sound a more genuine laughter.
They play as Fundamentally as they work
No Sinking and funking allowed
In their games 1t Is part OF the spirit
of the place to play hard and resolutely. It
will always be a part of the spirit OF boy
hood to play merrily.
l have spoken to some of the officers
about the tone Of the school and each
man tells me the same tale. There IL an
almost entire absence OF punishment from
the records. II boy does what is wrong
he Is brought before Capt. Wemyss. and
that wise officer speaks to the boy as
senior officer to his brother officer. not as
schoolmaster out of heaven armed with
the chastisement of Jove. The boys are
made to feel themselves gentlemen respon-
sible to their own honor for their conduct.
and the least perceptive of them come
gradually to apprehend this responsibility
much from association with the other
boys as from conversations with Capt.
Wemyss and Mr.. Taylor There Is a won
derful cleanliness of soul throughout the
whole establishment.
1t is possible that out Of, Osborne the
most successful experiment ever yet made
in practical education may come a reform
of the army more potent for reform than
any of the multitudinous schemes with
which Mr.. Brodrick and Mr.. Arnold-FOr-
ster have wrought confusion in the ranks
of our land forces. For the object of Os-
borne is to educate boys to be complete
sailors at twenty-One, possessing at that
age a knowledge of the construction of a
battleShfp, ability to make any part OF II,
mend any detail of 1t, and the-genfuB for
handling 1t in any department of its@ac-
tivity through the blacklist storm that ever
settled over the round sea. If this 8 pos
sbIe as our best sailors hold, and as, Os-
borne and Dartmouth are beginning to
show, why should We not contemplate a
similar mandatory for the reduction of
generals at twenty-one? 1t should be as
easy to teach boy to handle army as
to handle a battleship. Wellington went to
the military academy at Anglers in his
teens In Napoleon's day you might not
enter the military school at Brienne after
ten years of age
If this of a surety be so. how comes =
that the Office cannot point to boys rs
splendid and as eager and say, Behold
your Welingtons of tomorrows Water
loo