experienced sea-school, than now; and the three months' practice cruises
across the Atlantic, which the different classes made on alternate
summers, when the "young gentlemen" were trained to do all the work of
seamen, both alow and aloft, and lived on the old navy ration of salt
junk, pork and beans, and hardtack, with no extras, were anything but a
joke. The Academy, too, was in a transition state from the system in
vogue, up to 1850 inclusive, prior to which period the midshipmen went
to sea immediately after appointment, pretty much after the fashion of
Peter Simple and Jack Easy, and after a lapse of five years came to the
school for a year's cramming and coaching before graduating as passed
midshipmen. The last of such appointees was graduated in 1856, and the
sometime hinted contaminating influence of the "oldsters" upon the
"youngsters" was a thing to be known no more forever, albeit the hint of
contamination always seemed, to the writer, questionable, as, in his
experience, the habit and propensity of the youngsters for mischief
appeared to require neither promotion nor encouragement. Indeed, their
methods and ingenuity in evading rules and regulations and defying
discipline were as original as they were persevering, and could the
third-story room of the building occupied by the subject of this sketch
be given tongue, it would tell a tale of frolic and drollery that would
only find parallel in the inimitable pages of Marryatt. Convenient
apparatus for the stewing or roasting of oysters, poaching of eggs, or
the mixing of refreshing drinks, could be readily stowed away from the
inspecting officer, or a roast goose or turkey be smuggled by a trusty
darkey from some restaurant outside; and it was but the work of a moment
after taps to tack a blanket over the window, light the gas, and bring
out a dilapidated pack of cards for a game of California Jack or
draw-poker; or to convert the prim pine table into a billiard-table,
with marbles for balls, with which the ownership of many a collar,
neckerchief, shirt, and other articles of none too plentiful wardrobes,