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THE COURIER
UNDISMAYED
' LINCOLN YOUTH IN THE, NAVY
Leslie Calvin Served Nine Months as a Jachy
But Secured His Discharge Because of Lack of
Opportunity Offered for Advancement.
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Leslie Calvin is back from the U. S.
naval training station at San Fran
cisco. He is the seventeen-year-old
son of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Calvin of
S44 L street. For nine months he
served as a. naval apprentice at the
station and then, his health being
poor, his parents foukIU for him a
purchase discharge. He was in the
hospital at the time, sufferlnir with
one of the fevers common to the cli
mate at this time of year.
Since returning he has resumed the
studies he left in the high school last
spring. Good health has come hack to
him, he is glad to be at home again
with his parents and is not in the least
disappointed with his experience ex
cepting that it furnished no oppor
tunity for his ambition. Had he re
mained at the station he would have
been out on a cruise at the present
time a lone cruise down the coast.
It is his only regret that he is unable
to report the pleasures of one of these
excursions. Nevertheless he has many
interesting things to tell of life on
Goat island, for that is where the sta
tion is located a neat wooded isle in
San Francisco bay. north of the city.
Inland some distance from the dock
at which presides the old warship Pen
sacola, stand the barracks that shel
ter the apprentices. Young Calvin was
one of four hundred of them. The
buildings, including the ollicers' quar
ters, are clustered at the foot of a
sightly hill and here the lads pass the
days and nights in pursuit of the
learning that shall prepare thm for
the naval battles of the future. Mr.
Calvin tells of the strict discipline of
the place and is proud to say that he
made a record unblemished. "While he
enlisted, as do the others, for five
years, his discharge was honorable. In
addition to the fact that his health
was not the best he had come to the
conclusion that the navy Is no place
for a young man with ambitions. For
those reasons he was anxious to secure
his discharge. His parents besought
Congressman Burkett to Intercede for
their son and he did.
There are three sorts of discharge
medical, for failure of health: useless,
for shiftlessness and disobedience; and
purchase, which is given for substan
tial reasons and is honorable, entitling
the apprentice to his uniform and to
re-enllstment at any time should he
pine for the navy again. Not many
purchase discharges arc given, nor
many medical ones either, but quite a
number of the boys who show but scant
disposition to keep up with their
studies and to obey
soon II nd themselves
out in th cold. De
merits, extra duty
and Military confine
ment are the three
degrees of punish
ment next to eject
ment. For Instance,
if a boy is caught
smoking he is given
demerit marks and
with each repetition
he gets extra duty
and finally solitary
confinement on the
regal fare of "sponge
cake and white
wine" (bread and
water). It only
takes about four
repetitions of the
offense to earn the
youth five days of
solitary confinement
and then he is turned
out into the heart
less world.
Every morning at
11:30 the captain
"holds mast." It is
a sort of police
court In which the
youths who are charged with offenses
are lined up before the chief officers.
The captain reads the charge, the petty
officer who signs it is bidden out to
tell the story of the evil deed, the ac
cused is given a chance to vindicate
himself and then the court proceeds
to give sentence, either punishment or
acquittal. Never having been sum
moned before the court for the least
offense, young Calvin's record Is clean.
There was a time when numerous
goats roamed over the island, says
Mr. Calvin. Gradually they were killed
out until finally none were left but
two big bucks and these one day came
together and fought a battle to the
death. The survivor Is there yet with
a mate brought for his comfort, while
the horns of the deceased animal oc
cupy a conspicuous place in one of the
naval buildings.
It is a sunny island lapped by the
waves and all the year round the Pen
sacola floats at the dock. It is the old
flagship that was used by Admiral
Farragut in the days of the civil war.
so It has quite a history back of it.
Every day the uniformed boys swarm
its decks in the various stages and
processes of their training. Five hours
are consumed thus every day, includ
ing the time devoted to work in class
rooms. There is gunnery, seamanship,
knotting and splicing, boats and top
sails, wigwagging or signalling, single
sticks or fencing, small arms and bat
talion drill once a week and bag and
hammock inspection. Those who were
given extra duty for offenses were
obliged to perform whatever drudgery
they were appointed to after their reg
ular five hours of drill were over.
"It's all right for a fellow who has
no home." says Mr. Calvin, "but there
is no hope for any great advance In
any number of years. There Is a case
on record of an apprentice becoming,
after many years, an ensign but it is
only one. "Warrant officer, or one of
the officers of the deck, is about the
highest an apprentice can ever get.
That carries a salary of from $1,200 to
J1.S0O a year but It takes fully twelve
years to get that far along and then
there Is only one chance out of scores
and scores that It can be secured by
the one who wants It the most."
The apprentices are given $9 a month
with board. At the start the govern
ment furnishes them with $43 worth
of clothing and after that they must
pay for their own. "Unless a man has
a strong love for the sea and great
hopes of seeing foreign ports," added
Mr. Calvin, "It Is hardly wortli while."
Early to bed and early to rise is the
rule followed on Goat island. Every
boy sleeps in a hammock and washes
and mends his own clothes. Once
every three weeks he Is given shore
leave, when he may visit San Fran
cisco. Saturdays he has a good deal
to himself but he cannot leave the
island. Football and baseball in their
seasons attract the boys and they
have pretty strong teams. Hunting
tempts them but they are not allowed
to carry weapons over the Island.
Ducks are plentiful and the officers
take the boys out In boats around the
Island. The ollicers shoot while the
boys pick up the game. That's about
all the satisfaction they get out of it.
The ducks lly so close that the young
men with the true hunting spirit are
jlriven almost frantic in their helpless
ness. California meadow larks and
quail abound in the woods and shrub
bery, which covers the island.
In the draft which took Mr. Calin
to San Francisco he was the only boy
from Lincoln, though quite a number
went from Omaha, Fremont. Grand
Island, Loup City and Blair. Except
ing for fogs during the wet season,
which begins in November and lasts
until March. Mr. Calvin enjoyed" the
climate out there. The dampness, how
ever, is the cause of much fever among
the naval students and it was this
that had him in the hospital at the
time his parents were working to se
cure his discharge. He says the fogs
are so dense some of the time that one
can not see twenty feet. Railroad and
boat collisions have been frequent this
winter, he says. With him he brought
a number of pictures of the island, the
barracks and the Pensacola. in one of
which he himself is to be descried
high i.i a mast.
sr " "c
Pullman cars are swept with air
delivered by hose from the compressor
of the air brake.
Santos Dumont, the famous skip
per of the skies, is a man unac
quainted with fear. His previous
failures far from acting as a
damper to his enthusiasm, have
only strengthened his determina
tion to perfect his device.
Ansonia Conn., a thriving manu
facturing town, is governed in every
department by officials belonging to
trades unions. The mayor is a working
carpenter. Official meetings are held
at night and no one is at the city hall
during the day except the janitor.
JOHN S. CAIN
Proprietor
New Lincoln
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Phoue 5232
2G12 Q STREET
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