was some
years ago, and it has never been so obvious in navies as in armies;
because education in the use of the numerous special appliances
used in ships could be given less readily by private instruction
than in the use of the simpler appliances used in armies. But even
now, and even in the navy, the course given at Annapolis is usually
termed a "training" rather than an education.

Yet even education, educators tell us, is more a matter of training
than a matter of imparting knowledge. This indicates that even
for the duties of civil life, the paramount aim of educators is
so to train the characters of young men as to fit them for good
citizenship.

We may assume, therefore, that the primary aim of governments in
preparing young men for the army and navy is to develop character
along the line needed for useful work in those services.

What is that line?

Probably nine officers in ten would answer this question with the
words, "the line of duty." This does not mean that officers are
the only people who should be trained to follow the line of duty;
but it does mean that, in military and naval schools, the training
is more devoted to this than in other schools, except, of course,
those schools that train young men for the priesthood or other
departments of the religious life. The analogy between the clerical
and the military professions in this regard has been pointed out many
times; but perhaps the closeness with which the medical profession
approximates both in its adherence to the line of duty has not been
appreciated as fully as it should be.

_Duty_.--The reason for the predominance of the idea of duty over
any other in naval training is due, of course, to a realization
of the fact that more can be accomplished by officers having a
strict sense of duty though otherwise lacking, than by officers
having any or all the other qualifications, but lacking the sense
of duty. As an extreme instance of the doubtful value of highly
trained officers who lack the sense of duty, we need but to point
to those traitors who, in the past, have turned their powers in
the hour of need against the cause they were engaged to fight for.

One cannot pursue the path of duty when that path becomes difficult
or disagreeable unless the sense of duty is so strong as to resist
the temptation to leave the path. To train a man to be strong in
this way, we train his character.

There are several ways in which a man is tempted to leave t