“Hold on there, that’s enough. Suffering Moses, mister, where on earth did you ever pick up such a name?”
“It was my father’s name, sir, and my grandfather’s before that; I’m a Jew, sir.”
“Well, you’re a blame good man, Mister Himski and so forth. Shake hands, will you? And if you want a friend just send for ‘Gruff’ Smith. You’ll find a Jew at this school is as good as anybody else if he’s got the stuff in him. And what is your name, mister?” continued “Gruff” Smith, turning to a small, round-faced, blue-eyed little fellow.
“William Hamm, sir.”
“The next time anybody asks you your name tell him it’s Billy Bacon; now don’t forget. There’s the bugle for formation and you’d better get in ranks or you’ll hit the pap for being late.”
It was in this manner that Ralph Osborn received his introduction to the battalion of midshipmen.
CHAPTER VI
The Summer Practice Cruise Begins
On Friday of this week the senior or first classmen were to be graduated, and each of the lower classes was to be promoted one class. Up to this time Ralph’s classmates were derisively called fifth classmen and functions. Though the upper classmen, from the midshipmen point of view, esteemed fourth classmen, or plebes, to be the lowest things in the Navy, having no privileges and but few rights, yet the new midshipmen had not even yet arrived to that low estate.
These young gentlemen looked upon every upper classman as a possible enemy from whom brutal hazing might be expected. But the actual hazing proved to be very different from what had been anticipated. Ralph Osborn found himself standing on his head several times and sang several songs, but these acts, though certain to cause the dismissal of the perpetrators if detected, were always done in a spirit of fun, and were as much enjoyed by Ralph as by the hazers. Naturally Bollup received more hazing, or running, as it is called at the Naval Academy, than any of his classmates. Bollup deliberately determined to have as much fun out of the hazing as he could, and his zeal in always doing more than the hazer demanded, and his antics and absurd answers created much merriment and gave him a reputation as being “a fresh plebe.” He frequently intentionally forgot to add the word “sir” in replying to questions. This was always insisted upon as expressive of a proper respect toward his seniors.