Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1924-08-01

are on In four battleships for three
months practice cruise In European waters will
not be In continuous need of pity.
i 1t was back In the old days before the Civil war
that the middies used to cruise around on Chesa.
peake bay. 1t was In the early Fiftles that the
practice cruises were begun. The first cruising
middies navlgated Chesapeake bay on the John
Hancock and finished up the sloop of war
Preble of the coast of Maine. During the Civil
war the middies got their practice on Union ships
searching for Confederate privateers One Of the
later practice ships was the famous old sailing
frigate Constellation, built In 1708 which took a
summer cruise every year from 1871 to 1893 In
the period Of American naval decadence after the
civil war the middies got their practice almost
any old kind of hull that would float
At that their lot was happy compared with thnt
Of the mddies Of the still older days Originally
a midshipman was a sort OF messenger boy on
ship of war to run errands for the officers The
old sea dogs of early days did not believe In edu-
eating these embryo admIrals and gave them few
advantages.
In the American navy Of a hundred years ago
the mlddes were SO much to be pited that they
came to be scandal. They were pennlIess, a
knocked-about, half-starved and ragged lot Here's
what usually happened when one of our warsbins
touched mt a foreign port. The middies took
ashore with them everything portable and salable
-sextants, chronometers and the like-determined
to have square meal Mt all COSTS
Nowadays q middle has clothes lots of clothes
white service. blue service dress uniforms ETC.
etc, whole wardrobe. In those days there
weren't clothes enough to go around Why, the
scarcity Of clothing got to be Joke all along our
coast 1t was well understood that not more than
third or a half of the midshipmen's mess could
be counted on to attend a governors ball or other
social function. SO the hosts and hostesses had a
good laugh over the minority representation and
the bare majority" that staid aboard ship
Speaking Of clothes, everyone knows that a
uniform plays havoc with maidens heart Why
no less than ten Of this years class got married
the minute the graduating exercises were over.
Chaplain Sydney K. Evans performing seven mar
ringes right on the spot. Doubtless there were
some real romances; the fame of the sailor as a
lover is worldwide. Anyway. an ensign from Ari
zona married maid from Charleston, s. c.:
hero from New York city captured bride from
Halifax, N. s., and an embryonic admiral from
Utah made an Annapolis beauty strike her coIors
And when the 1900 undergraduates went aboard
the warships for foreign waters bound-what
scene was staged at Santee BASIN Girls, girls
girls IN the crowd on the dock to say farewell for
three long months-and maybe forever-and not
few Of them in tears as subchasers and cutters
carried away the mlddies to the big fighting ships
cut the bay.
These are the warshlps Of the squadron: wyo-
ming (iagship) New York, Texas and Arkansas
Vice Admiral Newton A. McCuily Is the squadron
commander. The senior officer aboard the flag
ship representing the Naval academy and in d.
rect charge Of the middies. is Commander Charles