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Show IUUK i)IDE OF A XAYV LIFE. IT 1S2.0T AIJ.VCS .VXDHIOIJC.IIUT VERY I.AIMJEJ.Y A BOKK. "The life of a naval officer is very far from being an easy or amusing one in my opinion," Biid a young lk-ulenauL '-I'coido generally have a notion that wc do nothing hut lark and play, but such is as tarns poa-ible from being the case, l'o begin Itli, o have to do at linM eigLt hours out of the tucnty-four of the hardest xortof toll work, Indeed In-deed to disagreeable In iU chiractcr that there are few kinds of labor which are not jltasaiit in comparison. compari-son. Four hours by day and four hours at niht, mouth after niontli and year after year, wo must spend In tlltntly walking a plank, forbiddin to uttcra word to anyone, umero 11 is necvMary to maku u lur mil communication to the captain, and dun drniej the privilege of sitting down if wo are tired. Such lj watch duty. You can Imagine how slowly the lime mutt pass eo occup'ei, ai titular Jy at night, when (lie iliLlJei.tul reionslOiiny for Uie ship's safety ri!b hray on the mind. Maj Le our night v aU.li bbiiuatSi. ui. auit Jasla until 11, If Lot you must bo engaged in tbi-pltasJug tbi-pltasJug duty from midnight till i in the morning. But all tin; same ou must be through breakfast bt-!nr bt-!nr 9 a. in. and rtady for morning drill. The blt.e jackets have to be (Ml thruugh their evolutions like -oidkre, marching In squads auu practicing at llicguc. In the al lenioou It is likely there will be an othtrdrill. During tho lutervab of such duties you may ioaf or go to sltep. In this way is life on board ship made up. For my own part 1 wuuld rather lle on laud." flllfS lttrW AND OTHERWISE. "Hut you have an agreeable companionship com-panionship among your fellow officers?" at all depends. When the ward roominess U comjxd exclusively of jelly and congenial men thing, go pleasantly. Hut such a fortunate eoudillou of afTdrs is rather theex-cejioii theex-cejioii than the rule. There are many more unhappy sJilps in the, service, as we phrase it, than happy ones. Von see, social existence uuders'jrii circumstances is reduced to iery close quarter, and small thiiigs become nou annoyances. A disagreeable fellow, not in any way to be avoided or got nd of, can occasion much tii&comiort. Hut Uie most common source of uncomfort-ablencss uncomfort-ablencss is lucre v..ut ofi-jmpalby among the efficcrs. How can it be exixxted that the man ol mature ycais could find ccnipanionabh a fresh jcung ensign not long out of the naval academy, or vice vera? Such difler-ence-s fit rge, feelings and opinions are necessarily productive, it not of tllcord, al le2-.t of unhspplness. If the executive otllccr, who alwajs pres des over tlie want room mess, innn unpleasant person, thingsare made execedlugly miserable. He may behave in a tjrarnlcal inau-ncr, inau-ncr, carrj Ing ills authority to tho tattle even, and the verj" meals will bo rendered unpalatable through his Iwd temer. It woum liarulj uotui hlra to go so far as to crltielM- the table manner of the other olllcera or to inmlt tliem In any way, Imj-caure Imj-caure they have It In their power to seek redress for such an Injury by meeting him on shoreand thrashing him; but he can do pretty nearly anjthln- fchort of thit. Over the conversation at the loan! he has control, and, when he conIdtr that a discussion has goue ift-r enough, he says simply: 'IhatwiJt do, gentlemen.' ' One would imagine the xeUlo; of a captain to 1 a very enJMjaUd ouc." W(,Xin O.N SHIITaJVKK "It!s hardly sucli for many reasons. rea-sons. To bgln Willi, it is exceedingly exceed-ingly dlfllcult far tho captain of a ship to maintain agreeable relations socially with his olllcersand to keep up strict discipline at the same time. If tiiecommander of a man-of-war wercseento Indulge iu alaughlng. familHrity witli one of the lieutenant, lieuten-ant, that single act would loown dicipIinealloverthevessel. Fruui, that time on the naval ca-et nouU -be more ntoaca witli the executive ofllcer, the iietty ofi'.cen: woulii be a trifle more familiar Inaddressiiigtrtt younger lieutenants, and the bluu jackets would jay n slightly ! reepectful attention to Hie d.M(h of the petty officer?. llverytlilngoH' board must outwardly preserve an air of the coldest formality, clfv i fore ion luoa it there vt ui 1 o itni Ule, v, hich can only be seltietl I y puttings scoreof the men iir iron and dropping all social courtesies between the caj.taln's cabin and the ward room. The captain must always al-ways maintain the role of an absolute abso-lute monarch. What he says Is bw. Nominally a captain has power of life an I death over any one on loard, but he would never carry A to that extreme, unless in cose of mutiny, auJ lie is chary of admln--Mering punishment, for the reason that any common sailor under him hue the ear of tho captain's own masters if lie lias an abuse to complain com-plain wf, tor the captain is obliged by the regulations to forward to the secretary of the navy at Washington any document which the meanest bluejacket may chcose to liaud'to him (or such transmission. Hemay mark it 'Xot approved of,' but lie his got to send it, and It may eaue his own court martial and even dismissal dis-missal from tho service in cae tho' complaint isof a surllcicntly serious nature and is sustained. "We have soma spells of comparative compara-tive liberty, of course, when weaYe on leave. On my last leave I went out Weft and the jmople I met said, 'Is the navy still going on?' 'Oh, yes,' I replied alwavs, "it is still going go-ing on.' You must have to sav e up your layfor sucli times as 4hl, when you don't earn nnything,'one old farmer ruggestcl. And wiien I frdd lum that nty pay went on while I was on leave lie was Indignant. Indig-nant. 'What!' he exclaimed, 'do you mean to say that you git. laid fer doin' notliln'? Tlie money I earn by dlggln' and sweatin' goes ten piy you fer !oafin'anuud.beru and larkin' with thegirhi VfW" I'il write to my congressman tonight to-night and hev It fixed!"' Wtuiing-lon Wtuiing-lon Star. |