nd these men were not merely more advanced in years.
They were matured beyond their age by early habits of responsibility
and command, and themselves imbued by constant contact with the spirit
of the phrase "an officer and a gentleman," which constitutes the norm
of military conduct. Their intercourse with their seniors on board
ship had been much closer than that which was possible at the school.
This atmosphere they brought with them to a position from which they
could not but most powerfully influence us. How far the tradition
might have been carried on, in smooth seas, I do not know; but along
with many other things, good and bad, it was shattered by the War of
Secession. The school was precipitately removed to Newport, where it
was established in extemporized and temporary surroundings; the older
undergraduates were hurried to sea, while the new entries were huddled
together on two sailing frigates moored in the harbor, dissociated
from the influence of those above them. The whole anatomy and, so to
say, nervous system of the organization were dislocated. For better or
for worse, perhaps for better and for worse, the change was more like
death and resurrection than life and growth. The potent element which
the oldster had contributed, and the upper classes absorbed and
perpetuated, was eliminated at once and entirely by the detachment of
the senior cadets and the segregation of the new-corners. New ideals
were evolved by a mass of school-boys, severed from those elder
associates with the influence of whom no professors nor officers can
vie. How hazing came up I do not know, and am not writing its
history. I presume it is one of the inevitable weeds that school-boy
nature brings forth of itself, unless checked by unfavorable
environment. I merely note its almost total absence in my time; its
subsequent existence was unhappily notorious.

A general good-humored tolerance, easy-going, and depending upon a
mutual understanding, none the less clear because informal,
characterized the relations of the officers and students. Primarily,
each were in the appreciation of the other officers and gentlemen. So
far there was implicit equality; and while the ones were in duty bound
to enforce academic regulations, which the others felt an equal
obligation to disregard, it was a kind of game in which they did not
much mind being losers, provided we did not trespass on the standards
of the gentleman, and of the officer liberally co