Military schools and courses of instruction in the science and art of war, / in France, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Sardinia, England, and the United States. Drawn from recent official reports and documents. Revised Edition

by Unknown

As part of the physical training of naval cadets, the expansion of the chest and the culture of the vocal organs should receive more special attention than the word of command on parade, and the questions and answers in the examination would indicate they had received. A clear, full, decisive voice is an element of influence on the deck at all times, and of power in the hour of danger, as well as on the field or in the senate chamber.

The first beginning of habits, secret or open, which waste the vigor of the mind and body, should be watched with professional skill as well as parental interest, and those cadets in whom such indulgencies have grown into habits, should be cut off from the institution and service without hesitation and without reprieve.

Domestic and Sanitary Arrangements.

The institution is peculiarly fortunate in having had for years a Commissary who understands his business and gives universal satisfaction to all concerned. The neatness of the kitchen, the supply, preparation, and serving of the food, the geniality, good order, and enjoyment of the mess-hours, and the fact that no complaint reached the Visitors from any one of the 450 boys, blessed with good health and plenty of physical exercise, makes the record of this department an exception to similar departments in other large collegiate institutions. This comes from having the right man in the right place.

The hospital arrangements on shipboard and on shore, although not as large and quiet as would be desirable or as would be provided specially in permanent quarters, are sufficient for the demands on their accommodations. The location of the institution and the judicious arrangement and management of the Academy as to cleanliness, exercise, and diet, as well as the presence of a surgeon and two assistants on the Academic staff, and numerous attendants for hospital service, would seem to act as a preventive of accidents and disease, the mean daily percentage of sick on ship and shore from Oct. 1st to May 31st being returned at a little more than three per cent. out of an average attendance of 447 midshipmen. In calling for the annual reports to the Department of the medical condition of the institution, the Visitors were informed that a duplicate copy or abstract was not retained. Such copy or abstract would be highly convenient, and would seem to be even necessary, if it is deemed advisable to have a periodical inspection of the sanitary condition and requirements of the school.

Religious Observances and Instruction.

The regulations require that the students shall be assembled in the chapel for prayers daily, fifteen minutes before the breakfast hour, and that divine service shall be held on Sunday, which officers and students are expected to attend, unless excused on the ground of conscientious scruples, declared in writing by the former, and by the parents or guardians of the latter. These daily and Sunday exercises are conducted by the regular Chaplain of the institution. He is at the present time assisted in these and other such voluntary religious labors by three other chaplains of the Navy, who are now in residence as assistant professors. There are four Bible classes composed of cadets, and over one-eighth of the members are communicants in the different denominations of Newport. The student who brings, in his moral culture from home, religious convictions and habits, can easily preserve and strengthen them here, and no amount of instruction in the institution can compensate for the neglect of parental example and teaching in this respect. The absence of the religious element in the character and training of youth is a fundamental defect, and no institution of learning, special or general, can safely, for any length of time, dispense with appropriate and adequate means of religious instruction and a practical recognition of religious obligations, consistent with due regard to the religious convictions of individuals and the equal rights of all religious denominations. Such individual convictions and denominational rights can be best respected, not by ignoring the subjects themselves, but by selecting the chaplain from time to time so as to represent different religious denominations, and in all cases, in reference to his ability to be useful as chaplain in this institution.

The reading of the Sabbath, and one of the exercises of Monday morning might be so arranged as to harmonize with the religious observances and uses of Sunday, and the whole be made to unfold and enforce the great, definite, and unchanging obligations of every human being to his fellow-men, to his country, and to God.

As part of the religious and moral instruction of the Academy, more at least should be attempted to prevent, and if these unfortunately exist, to eradicate certain vulgar and vicious habits, whose beginnings are small, but which ultimately take complete possession of the individual. Although the Visitors can not, from their own knowledge, speak of its existence, they have had too many assurances from those who did know, to have any doubt of the prevalence of the vulgar and immoral practice of profanity, and that several of those addicted to it are among the youngest members of their classes, who came here entirely pure in this respect. The medical and police experience of the institution detects the occasional existence of other tastes and habits more directly affecting the health and morality of their victims, and which should and doubtless do receive the considerate and vigilant attention of the authorities, especially of the Chaplain, Surgeon and Superintendent.