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

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which carried off vulgar, a cooler, waded into it was a caution, con- sequently, they swiped the exam. The days passed by as in a sweet dream, and, at last, June week came. I might enlarge upon the improper and highly disgraceful conduct that characterized that week. But you might not believe me,innocent reader, if I told you how wicked we became in those last few days. But we went to the june ball, and to the ship next day, in the most charming manner. I hope you have never had the experience ofturning in at four in the morning, after a june ball and general festivities afterward, and risen at six, to spend all day in packing your but the way we thought we had One of the hardest blows that has ever fallen upon us was the Second Class Semi-Ann., some prizes for whom we still mourn. The steam exam. was, in the Uffirr oi Gnmmimhani ui Gahsis. Q- :gl Dnunl J nuq. jmuqlnliu. QB., ' 1677 Mfadfeiifm -Zif,fffZ6'?QW9 time QWS4 EL Wi LA, . vtwf - ,4- clothes aboard tl1e ship, stowing your hammock, finding out your station, standing a watch, and becoming accustomed to the inevitable reality that you are there. First Class year finally came, and with it stripes, buzzards, and insurance policies. We soon began to feel as if we were really going to graduate. This feeling was some- what wealcened, however, when we commenced to toy with ordnance, electricity, and ,. 3: , y-74471 N IIVAAW if ,. X , ,X ri if f' n'li'i 'Q l f-N I f , ,y f A X ffw 44' l vi gi l-U llillll E fi H3121 lllll '-f- ig --gig Q,,l,f,'l u1 ifll1il ' i X Y .' , i x Miitavm :Nlllii 'l.i will . if ,, ' ni yw - ,f x Malls' ,f . i'li ff 'l1 f 7 V ' ff feil itfei I -ff-QAM l li t ' i li'i2lllW1iie3f'll' if 'fly it ' , il pp fwfyw I is tt.' I ,ff I , of ff , Uni gf ' f I ,K , ,. i lll., l ,A- Q , ' 7 114' I f X f fr ff I f K X! ' ' W5 g K , iullllllillfwllllllW1ll ll 1 fl 1liililiiiilllillilgll llllllllfllTllllillll iil'lll'f practical work in navigation. i , X ' , 1 1 .l SI

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such nonsense. But this evil is almost remedied now by having drills at every recreation hour, and prohibiting cadets going anywhere in the yard where a lady might go. Among the principal features of youngster year the Drawing Department has a big lead. It grieves me to confess it, but we didn't cut any very large morsels of ice in that department. With tears I remember our introduction into it. Colvo had looked us all over, shown us how to let our desks slide down, explained in detail how every instru- ment should be used, warned us against the thoughtless practice of leaving our Compasses out in the snow, and had concluded in the most touching tones with the words If handled with care they will last a lifetime. At that moment Cy Thorpe dropped his desk with a bang, and let his drawing-box go helter-skelter down two iiights of stairs. But let us draw a few curtains over this scene. Youngsterdom finally came to an end, as all youngsterdoms usually do, in the Ann., though some of ours ended at the Semi-Ann. But this is no time for tears. We then began our long-expected Second-Class summer. I cannot describe the bliss of living at Old Quarters during the summer, with little work to do, no studies, spooning and golf at the farm, picnics, boating, sailing, skyrockets and firecrackers, beer and watermelons. No, I can't describe it-for the principal reason that we were not there. We were safely ensconced aboard the good ship lVlonongahela, far from the madding crowd-three months of heaven Guileless reader, did you ever take an altitude? Did you ever get up from your impromptu breakfast of salt horse and sea-water cocoa, and take an altitude? If you have never done this, have never picked the mean right ascension of the moon out of the apparent sun column for the next week, if you have never waited for the navigator to announce his noon position, so that you may cook up your sight to fit the case, truly, shepherd, thou art eternally damned. But all this came to an end finally, and we had one short month in which to live. We lived fast lives during that month, to catch up with the time lost in the two years past, but, at last, we came back and buckled on our Oehm's blouses again. If you have never come back from real life, on the last train, reported to the Officer in Charge, Commandant, and the Assistant Master-at-Arms, and wandered into your new room, piled up with beds, wardrobes, blankets, trunks, mattresses, boxes, books, washstands, clothing, lamp-shades, chairs, overcoats, valises, and your unhappy room- mate, have never sat down in your cit's clothes and sworn gently in silent despair, and hopelessly endeavored to calm down the az ' affairs, to buy your books and other unnecessaries, to stow your clothes, to find ye, . .... c is, and study the lessons for the next day, you have missed one of the most touching phases of existence. Skip all that, you may say, and I agree with you. We were steered up against Second Class year in the most unkind and heartless manner. First, there was Steam and Leo: then Skinny and Tau, and finally, Math and jack, besides other ladies. But we lived in Old Quarters in those days, and nobody worried our supreme pleasure. Evening smokers and general gayeties were in order, and fortune smiled upon us for a long time. 30 I

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They quailed the hearts of some of us, and quailed the marks at the same time, so that three of our noble number were unsat. at the Semi-Ann. Of course, they will be safe in the end, but we feel so sorry for the poor creature that lost his mind when he heard of his fate. Since becoming First Class men, we have learned many things, among others, table manners. We feel so indebted to the kind officer in charge who wastes so much of his valuable time giving us lectures on how to appear rm fait at the table. You must know that this branch of our training has been sadly neglected till now, but we think that by the time we graduate we won't drink out of our soup plates, and, even now, there is none of us that ever eats julie? with a spoon. It has been a custom, heretofore, at the Academy to have a public burial of the life- less bodies of Math. and Skinny after the Semi-Ann., for, at that time, these ungainly creatures, who have followed us through three and one-half years with faithfulness untiring, are supposed to be dead. They may have died this year as they are said to have died before, but they were immediately reincarnated in full force in the Departmentslof Ord- nance, Navigation, and Steam, so that, out of respect for these departments, we omitted that joyous event. After the Semi-Ann., we ran into the English Department again-our high speed, non-return, great unwashed English department-the benefits of which we felt before we left high school. We are now learning how to make our letters and say our A, B, Cls. But the department in which we have shone this year is that of seamanship. This department has already blossomed forth in seventeen pamphlets, numerous drawings, blue prints, plates, and smoking privileges, beside some verbose extemporaneous works, so extemporaneous in some places that it would make Billy Fay run his hands through his hair and cuss. If you have never experienced the feeling of reading page after page of matter without having any idea conveyed to your brain, read Nawz! Colzstafuctzbfz Notes by the Seamanship Department. But let us talk of something cheerful. There are not many days more, as the days grow longer, the time grows shorter-a seeming paradox. We are now waiting with anxious hearts for the day when we go to dress parade for the last time, when we march up to the band stand, seize our diplomas in both hands and yell, when we can stroll outside thepgate, light a cigar, and throw the match back inside. 32