The Washington times., 1917-05-25

boys ambitious to work up and on Il
these higher grades. Before goinE
up for examination they must pas'
preliminary tests. And these tesu
are held nearly every day.
Chances For Promotion.
All commissioned officers must &c
through Annapolis first, but in recent
years 1t has been arranged that z
non-commissioned officer who Il Will
ing to work hard and can pass .
severe competitive test can get into
Annapolis and so in time win his
commission. There are already some
sixty officers who have come up In jusi
| this way. They are known as mus
| tangs." They Of course share me OF
ficers' mess, and no distinction what
ever is made. A number OF them
have risen to be Lieutenant com
mGnders. And that their numbers
will before long be greatly Increased
| there appears to be little doubt
There are chances for promotion
here such as the navy has never seen,
for war time is the season for that.
All the ships are In a stage OF transit
ton and the navy is growing fast.
As the new recruits keep pouring in,
men and officers are ceaselessly be-
ing transferred to the ships which In
the last few weeks have come into
active service. Everyone Is working
overtime, and there Is the feeling of
change and growth. Nearly half of
our crew." said an officer, have been
taken away in the last few weeks.
Their positions here are filled by
shifting others whose places In turn
| are taken by rockies pouring in"
II any American pessimist thinks
that the navy is asleep. one day here
would open his eyes.
Getting Coed Material.
They have promising raw material.
For OF the recruits one-half at least
come from colleges and high schools.
A few of them come from wealthy
homes. One officer was telling me
that in the training station whore he
was \ month ago. . rookie there
was visited by an anxious mother
and his father, q keen little man who
turned out to be the head of one OF
the best known motor car companies
in the States. He told the officer
that he hoped his boy would be .
coxswain soon. ''He's a bright boy
and a hustler. sir. and I want him
to make good. II he's to serve his
country. want him to do II with
all he has in him. That's how !
have got on myself"
All kinds Of sons are gathered here
from homes of widely different kinds
some 5000 miles away. The Filipinos
on this ship, who are messmen and
cabin boys, are bright, alert-looking
little chaps. When I Joined the fieet
was assigned to q vacant officer'i
cabin. 1 found a Filipino there, a tail
nice-looking lad, with large. gentle
eyes and a low voice, sweet and mu
steal. He spoke clear. deliberate Eng
lish- As he cleaned up the room for
me, glanced at q letter on the desk
which he'd Just begun. Dear Marie,
he had written. my sentiments OF
esteem for you have only increased
since we parted" Soon he had my
room in shape. I had brought nc
towel, and he said to me: please,
have a new one. 1t is quite new. You
have It. Please" Then discovered
had no soap, and he brought me 9
cake marked "Violet," from which
the wrapping had not been removed
''Nice soap-all new. You like to use
Please?" There was such q friendli
ness in his voice and his large black
eyes. 81 wonder what island you
came from" 1 thought. what she
was like? What you will be? Where
are you going? What's coming "a
your "Oh, thanks" I said, and took
the soap.
1 saw another letter-writer later in the
evening. but he was an American with
nothing soft about him. SpraWled In a
berth deck on the floor. with a scowl
he was laboriously writing In a hand
so large and frm that could see
over his shoulder. II started like
this: "Dear Mother, / received your
letter. You need not worry 20 about
me. There is nothing the matter with
me at all" He looked up and scowled
and passed on.
Describes Night Picture.
On this ship, as on all the others,
they have movies two or three nights
a week. This was one OF the nights,
and 1t will be long before I forget
the picture saw. The picture was
not on the dlm- That was only the
old cowboy stun-called "a Desert
Melody.T But the screen with its
CEuuC 4llNlc uiA " ds hlBh Up on Ihe
turret OF one OF the big tweIve-inch
guns, and the picture was up there
against the sky. where in heavy
silhouette were the great long guns
on either side, the black smoke fun
nels and the mAsts, dim cables and
huge hoistinE cranes, and the yards
above with their winkers constantly
flashing little lights. while signals
came from other ships, and from far
OF near the horizon two huge search
lights were sending up qulverinE
messages on the clouds.
The picture was in the men and
boys, nearly q thousand out under the
stars-standing, sitting or lying
about. From far and near came
shouts and cries intoned in that
strange rhythmic way. now hoarse
and sharp, now high and mournfuI,
long drawn-out and drifting over the
water. There came the clear sweet
boatswain's pipe, and soon one OF. the
heavy cranes swung around with a
grinding noise and dropped a chain
over the port-side. And presently IN
out OF the darkness the shadowy
ghost OF a boat appeared, with four
bluejacSets standing inside with