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

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npHE Naval Academy, our Alma Mater, our Service Mother, is an in- - - stitution whose influence we shall feel and whose stamp we shall bear throughout our lives. Enshrined in memories and hallowed by the passing of the years is the mosaic we call our Academy life. Simple and systematic is the pattern thereof The yard, the officers, and the depart- ments form the central theme, each representing in its turn the high traditions of the Navy, the type of men who command our ships, and the beginnings of knowledge whence comes sea power. Buildings and grounds change with the passage of time, but the spirit of the institution, the true Academy, ever remains the same. Time only can add to the glorious traditions which are our heritage. The aims, ideals, and examples are as unchanging as truth itself. On every side of us are reminders to serve as an inspiration to achieve the highest in fidelity to duty, personal honor and integrity, and devotion to country. Beautiful in themselves though they are, our trophies, flags, and mon- uments are only symbols, and it is the things for which they stand that are the abiding realities of life. Into the most impermeable of us must have seeped a bit of their molding influence 1 ..A} t - ' . ' r . %

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1 THE ACADEMY N itLra .X -i ' !;: % «r ' ri 7T

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WHITE buildings rising from their emerald setting of grass and foli- age, sparkling blue water flecked with white caps, blue and white sky above, and sunlight gleaming upon the chapel ' s golden dome. Light- hearted, bright and gay is the scene when June smiles down upon the yard. Then again— rain dripping from cold grey walls upon the wet tiles of the terrace, spray dashing high from the waves which break in a smother of foam upon the sea wall, dead leaves fluttering down to the sodden earth, all beneath the leaden November skies. Cold and grey arise the buildings of the yard, the stern preceptors of Academy life. Eloquent of the service for which it trains is the yard in its different moods. Stern and relentless as the granite, the service calls for unswerv- ing loyalty. Yet for all its hardness we find the granite covered by trailing vines of ivy, a thing of both strength and beauty.