The semi-weekly messenger., 1908-03-31
SPtRRY SOON To
TAKE COMMAND
lie Degan Young and Has Active
Service Ahead
Ia the Spanish War He hiseed the
dery But Not the Hard Work-A
Quiet Mathematician Who Has
Been In the Navy Forty-six Years.

Been In the Navy Forty-six Years.
Do know Spery, Let ms SEA He
entered the service in '62. that was
forty-six years ago. IL that computa-
ton is right, l have known Sperry
Iorty five years and have known hin
intimately some forty-odd. Why, /
helped him get through with his
wedding ceremony, and q year az
terTards | brought a bride OF my
own TO visit the happy couple. How
ever, you want to know what kind OF
Il c0mmaDder-inchief he is going TO
ciahs, and how he came TO get his
appointment In SO far asthe meet Is
concerned, ! can say without hesita-
tlou- that precisely as Evans has re-
ported from Aagdalene Bay that the
feet is concerned cmfw cmfwcmfwy
Iect is in better shape than il was
! when it left Hampton Roads, SO Mr..
Sperry will be able to show TO an
inspection board when the ships an
chOg there again
! As to the reason why he receives
| the appointment sicnce neither 20
/ IRical nor family influence has any
! thing to do with. it, and since he
! in a manner missed the chance to
earn glory in the late war with Spain
the circumstances are perhaps worth
explanation. In the first place, Mr.
Sperry had the good luck to enter
| the service very young SO that his
retiring age comes quite later than
that Of his class mates, the majority
OF whom are already retired. Then
he had the common sense and brains
necessary to gradu ate from the Acad
eray away up in th.. single numbers OF
his class. uThs you see right at the
start he got into shape to become a
rear admiral early and to stay late.
His start in active service was as
romantic as the start Of a harrow
ing dime novel, although l never
could persuade him to visw it in that
Eight. He started for the China sta
zion on the corvette Sacramento, and
they got along alri. ght until some
rhere near the mouth OF the Hooghly
FiFer on the way to Calcutta, when
the ship went ashore, at night in a
fog and was a total wreck. No lives
were lost and no clot hes. were saved,
En al hands came hoi ne rich only in
experience If | were commissioned
"EiIS SpSiIy DIOS,lct COulu
co doubt rake up lots of such mater
<a' OF narrowing interest to the peo-
2l0 who pass their lives at home, but
u order to be truthful I should have
70 get my detailed facts from the
f9r atain-head and right there is
VII IRE l should meet with defeat, for
the reason that all such episodes
wCUL dappear to him as too common
n no
MATHEMATICAL TALENT.
2perry is phlegmatic. I doubt very
much if he tool; his shipwreck any
more seriously lhaa a person would
"'ho stepped in mud puddle. 1t was
FH over as soon as his paiamas got
tsy. The day that he got married
you would have thought that it was
his sixteenth experience instead of
ais first one. Appearances are often
deceptive, and the matter-of-tact air
may come from absolute vacuity sf
mind, but such an accusation can
hardly be laid at his door. His in
mate mathematical talent sent him
repeatedly to the Naval Academy as
an instructor in higher mathematics.
Only the best talent in the service
would ever be picked for president OF
the Naval War College, and ne serv-
ed in that capacity for five years. re-
Anqu1shing it to go as the naval MEM
Der OF the last Hague Conference.
L have said that he missed the glory
OF the Spanish war. So he did, but
ne by no means missed the hard
work OF it, for as ordnance officer of
the New York navy yard, he had any
thlng but a sinecure. To the ord
nance officers falls all the details Of
lifting the vessels out with their en-
tire artillery outfits. There was
scarcely a day for more than six
months then that at least a dozen OF
the purchased yachts were no. at the
docks to be armed and started off in
hurry, but not a mistake must be
made. This only N addition to the
repairs and equinI ent of the main
fcer.
saw Sperry al Lis work often in
thUSe days, and 1t was a joy to the
spirit to see the machine work There
was a tangle in tn thread every five
minutes, tut il came straight in a
moment and without a stvo in tho
eguiar mChCr of the shuttle. He isa
going to handle the feet OF battle :
ships in exactly the same way. 1t is /
not merely matter of navigatir
some twenty old vessels in company
There is the comfort, the well-beiIg,
the training, and the steady enthusi-
asm of fifteen thousand people to be ]
maintained. It takes a steady hand
at the wheel and solid sense unaf.act-
ed by what is called the exalted po-
sition TO carry the cruise to a sue
eessful finish. Trust Sperry.
METHOD IN APPOINTMENT,
But how did he secure the appoint
ment? Notwithstanding the. dis
patches state that it has beeIG detsr-
mined after consultation, thare are
all the finger marks of a long and
well-develope6 plan of the naval au-
thorities. IN the first Place ii is
easily seen that a superb taaining ex-
perience has been gained By every one
connected with the feet. This train
inc hoe haor