United States Naval Academy - Lucky Bag Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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TO jfatbcT IRcptunc, Courting his propitiation, W3G jReverently inscribe this Little Volume. i

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 ?pologg. Before launching this modest little craft upon the waters of public criti- cism, we, her builders, would claim your attention for a moment, kind reader, while we explain how it came to pass that she was ever designed and built, and while we enumerate some of the many difficulties which have beset us during her construction. One day during last summer’s cruise, while becalmed in the very middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a group of first-class middies were whiling away the tedious hours by reciting impromptu poetry on the forecastle of the good ship “Con- stellation some unusually brilliant effort elicited the remark that talent like that should not be doomed to bloom unseen. A resolution to publish a little volume into which such bursts of genius might be gathered, was the result of the conversation which followed, and a committee was chosen to bring the vol- ume into being. The gifted poets promised reams of rhyme which would bring fame and fortune to our glorious class : but, strange to say, these poets have not been heard from since, though the poor stranded committee have sent prayers and entreaties throughout the land, and have offered large rewards for anyone caught spooning on the “ Muse ' —In desperation they at last decided to convert the book into an Academy Annual, similar to the annuals published at all other large colleges, and the “Lucky Bag” is the result. That we have not done our work well we do not need to be told—not even after considering the many obstacles which have had to be surmounted. But, if the senior classes which succeed us will take up the work where we have left it, profiting 3