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

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Foreword. In life, under whatever environment it exists, sorrows are more easily remembered than joys: and history, which commemorates the progress of centuries, illuminates only the sterner side of the common life. In the pages to follow, believing, as we do, that no ray of sunshine has ever fallen upon our lives to be forgotten, have been traced the happier out- lines of a four years’ union; so that, in the years to come, when more serious duties leave small space in our lives for levity, though separated by seas and continents, and never again to be united as a class, those occurrences that have caused younger faces to grow bright with merri- ment shall again make our hearts light and our faces merry. Hardly is it necessary to add that the intent to wound or to embitter the feelings of those with whom the reader laughs has been far from our thoughts. If any one would carry a thought away with him as he closes the pages of this volume, let that thought be this: that the remembrance of pleasant moments is the best antidote for pain. We are deeply indebted to Mr. R. F. Zogbaum, Lieutenant W. P. inched, and Miss Louise West for their valuable assistance in the illus- trating of this volume. To them for their cooperation, and to friends for their good wishes, the Class of 1901 returns its hearty thanks. 6

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To PROFESSOR PAUL J. DASHIELL A man whose name stands out clearest and brightest among the names of those who, by their fairness, cordiality, and gentlemanly kindness, have built up pleasant memories of the Academy in the hearts of the Class of 1901; whose hours and energy have been freely devoted to the advancement of the Academy’s interests; whose ener- getic life and sunny temper have inspired in more than one mind the desire to serve something better: is this volume dedicated as a small token of the esteem and affection with which he-is held, not only by the Class of 1901, but by the entire battalion of cadets.

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The Naval Academy The Naval Academy of the United States of America was estab- lished as an institution of the Federal Government on the tenth day of October, eighteen hundred and forty-five. The steps that had led to its foundation were varied and numerous, beginning with the plea put forth in 1814 by the Honorable William Jones, then Secretary of the Navy, and ending finally in the early spring of 1845 with the successful effort of the Honorable George M. Bancroft. Secretary of the Navy under President Polk, to secure an appropriation from Congress for its main- tenance. The selection of Annapolis as a site for the Naval Academy was advocated to the Secretary of the Navy in 1826 by the House of Delegates for the State of Maryland; and. by reason of its excellent sani- tary conditions, easy access by water, and its few distractions, this town was finally selected for the situation of the first Naval Academy in- stituted as a national school by any government in the world. The Naval Academy was a necessity. Through years of the train- ing of young naval officers at sea by schoolmasters, whose pay was so limited as to prevent men of learning from accepting a tutorship, to the naval school on shore where the sciences could be taught effectively, was a long, hard stride. Neither was the change effected suddenly. Schools were conducted at irregular intervals at New York and Phila- delphia. The upsetting of the old ideas of the naval officer's education, where valor was held to be the summation of his instruction, was effected, .not so much by the quick change to the combination of brain power with courage, as by the slow, steady increase of scholarly men in the personnel of the Navy. The success of the Naval Academy and its effect upon the efficiency of the naval service are, to-day. the best proofs of the foresight and ability of Secretary Bancroft. (The Academy (T.olors. (015 (fiold mi5 finuy tSIue.