An Annapolis First Classman

by Edward L. Beach

The next night the evening promenade concert occurred. The grounds were made bright with numbers of lighted Japanese lanterns hung among the trees. The Naval Academy band played beautifully, and Robert, walking between his father and mother, followed the crowd of happy promenaders, talking of his four years within the Academy walls, of the difficulties he had had, and of the friends and good fortune that had come to him.

And the following day was Robert's graduation.

The brigade was formed with the band on the right; next came the first classmen about to be graduated, without arms. Then came the brigade, with rifles, the temporarily appointed cadet officers of the second class wearing swords. Soon the brigade marched off with slow measured tread to the chapel, the band playing all the way that tune, full of joy to midshipmen's ears, of: "Ain't I glad to get out of the wilderness?" It finally had a special meaning to the young men about to receive their diplomas. In the chapel the chaplain, dear to generations of midshipmen, made an eloquent, heartfelt prayer, and then the superintendent delivered a short address.

"Young gentlemen," he began, "your lives in the navy are now to begin in earnest. You have been here for four years, surrounded by a naval atmosphere, and drilled in those things required of our naval officers. From now on your work will be on familiar lines, but yet there will be a great difference. Here, at the Naval Academy, if you make a mistake in your navigation work, you will receive a low mark. Aboard ship you will do the same exact kind of navigation, but if you make a mistake you may cause a ship and hundreds of lives to be lost. The great difference is that in the outside naval service you are at all times under great responsibilities; here your responsibilities have been but slight. Here, if you drill well, your company may win the Academy colors, and that is what many of you have worked for. Aboard ship, if the enlisted men under you do not drill well, it will be your fault, and it will mean your men do not shoot accurately, that your engines are inefficient, that your ship is neither an honor to the flag, nor could an admiral depend upon it in battle when the interests of your country were at stake.

"Here you have been under instruction. You have for long years been drilled in the duties of the private in the ranks, of the fireman at the furnace, of the machinist at the lathe, of the electrician at the switchboard, of the gun pointer in the turret, of the helmsman at the wheel—there is no duty that an enlisted man can be called upon to do aboard ship that you have not been drilled in at this institution. But, besides this, you have designed steam and electric engines, and built them with your own hands in the shops; you have gone deeply into the mathematics of natural law and can not only operate a machine, but you can design it and build it.

"Gentlemen, you have been under a most expensive instruction here, for which, as yet, you have rendered no return.

"You are now splendidly equipped for your life-work in the navy. You will find that aboard ship your principal duties will be the instruction of enlisted men. You were gathered here, not only that you personally might become accomplished officers, but that you might receive instruction for the purpose of imparting it to others. You must prove that the earnest efforts spent upon you have not been wasted. You must apply full benefit of the training you have here received to the enlisted men who will soon be in your charge, or else the purpose of this institution has failed.

"We expect to hear good reports of you; we are proud of you, but we will know our confidence in you is not misplaced when we hear that your guns shoot straight, your engines steam well, and that the enlisted men under you are contented and believe in you. When we hear that we will be content, for we will know our work here has produced results.

"For a last word, never forget the glorious record made by our navy in every war; and may it enter your hearts that you all have a special duty to do your utmost to keep bright our naval history."