New-York tribune., 1907-11-02
THE ARMY AND NAVY.
RecoIections by Captain Mahan and
General Schaf.

FROM SAIL TO STEAM. BY. Captain A T
Bros.
THE SPIRIT OF OLD WEST POINT, BY Morris
Schan T'wenty-three Illustrations from photo
graphs. Svo, PIP. 2S3 Houghton, Miffiin G. Co.
The immortal old chroniclers Captain Mahan
points out in his preface, at their best when
least conscious Of their formal task: their colors
run truer then: the pictures they give us Of con-
temporary life and manners are more revealing.
For lesser gabbers." he continues, "the best
way TO lose seIf-consciousness is just TO let
themselves go" It is in just such an engaging
spirit Of artlessness and spontanety that these
two volumes Of "reminiscences have been pro-
duced, the treating Of life IN the Naval
Academy Immediately before the Civil War and
more briefly. Of episodes in subsequent naval
history; the other concerning itself chiefly with
the West Point TO which the writer bade fare
well in 1862, when he entered the Army OF the
Potomac
Our navy Of ante-bellum days was predomi-
nantly a sailing feet. In 1861 more than half
the available ships OF war were sailing vessels
pure and simple and the whole navy was still
equipped with canvas. Hesitation was general
to the ultimate predomInance OF steam. Cap
tain Mahan says: IAN acquaintance Of mine,
sailmaker in the navy. of unusual intelli-
gence and tried courage. used 10 maintain that
steam would never prevail Small steamers he
contended would accompany sailing fleets. to
tow vessels becalmed or disabled in battle" AL
though the work of naval reconstruction was al
ready under way. the liberal standards Of the
older navy-the navy that dated from 1872
stil controlled the spirit OF the service when. in
1856 Mahan was enrolled as midshpman at the
Academy. The earlier course Of five years at
sea and final year at Annapolis had recently
been made over into course OF four prelim-
mary years at Annapolis, with summer cruises
and two finishing years on shipboard: but the
democratic tradition Of the "odsters" with its
supreme regard for seamanship and slight relish
for Impractical" academic training, was uni
versally operative. The new scholarship re-
quirements were most indulgently enforced.
there were no strict regulations in regard to
Dress carriage. of leisure, etc, and ignorance
in matters academic or military brought no dis
credit-provided always. OF course, that a man
good seaman.
first occasion of forming the battalion ashore
could think of no order 1noro appropriaIc man
Form your companies fore and aft the pavement .
Had this man missed stays" when In
charge of the deck he would have been soreiy
mortified.
Relations between the different classes were
of the most cordial nature, and this fact espe-
cially impressed Midshipman Mahan for his
boyhood had been spent at West Point, where
his father was professor OF mathematics. HaZ-
ing was unpractised. not even talked Of A great
freedom of intercourse existed between faculty
and students, "a general good humored toler-
ance easy going and depending upon a mutual
understanding, none the less clear because in
formal" There was a sort OF implicit equality.
Though it was the understood duty OF officers
to enforce regulations and the understood duty
of students to disregard them. this was a kind
of game in which one greatly minded being
the loser.
General Schaff tells of very different state
of things at the Military Academy Except in
the rarest instances neither officers pro-
fessors came into any sort of personal relation
with the cadets. The cadet world a world
of sharp boundaries shut into itself and cleft
within itself into smaller class communities, It
was in short. highly ar1stocratlc system and
as any aristocracy depends upon the tacit ac
ceptance of certain standards by all concerned
so at West Point it was the usage. the code,
the unwritten law of the place that counted most
in the moulding of cadet character II at the
forces. at West Point they were just mark
edlv impersonal forces-a body of traditions, or
ideals that no one dreamed of challenging.
There are two West Points" says General
Schaf 1.-THE actual West Point and the over
arcbing spiritual one" This Spirit" OF West
Point had a part so vital and lasting in the life
of the cadets that 1t has come, in the authors
mind TO be no abstraction at all. but an actual.
almost tangible Personality. Again and again
he comes back TO the figure, lingering over it
anectionately Now il is the Spirit OF the little
chapel that speaks to the hearts of the cadets,