me the "'41 Date," then
in the prime of life, was obnoxious to those below it; not for its own
fault, but because of its numbers, which, with promotion strictly by
seniority, constituted a superincumbent mass that could not but be
regarded bitterly by those who followed. At present there would be the
consolation that retirement, though distant, would ultimately sweep
them all away nearly simultaneously; but there was then no retired
list. Whatever the motive, the Secretary of the Navy had been moved to
introduce, in 1841, over two hundred midshipmen,[4] which put an
almost total stop to appointments for several subsequent years, and
gave the "Date" the invidious distinction it enjoyed. The well-known
character in the service whose hoisting a demijohn for a flag I have
before mentioned, and who found this great overplus above him, was
credited with saying that those of them who did not drink themselves
to death would strut themselves to death--a comment which testified
rather to the warmth of his feelings than to the merits of the case.
Of course, the greater the total, the more numerous the unworthy; and
the unfortunate natural bias of mankind notices these more readily
than it does the capable.

The class to which I now found myself admitted was the "'55 Date," and
whatever their reputation in the service, then or thereafter, they
thought themselves uncommonly fine fellows, distinctly above the
average--not perhaps in attainments, which was a subsidiary matter,
but in tone and fellowship. One among them, a turn-back from the
previous Date, and for two years my room-mate, used to declare
enthusiastically that he was glad of his misfortune, finding himself
in so much better a crowd. I doubt if I could have gone as far as
this, but in the general estimate I agreed fully. We numbered then
twenty-eight, having started with forty-nine a twelvemonth before.
Three years later we were graduated, twenty. The dwindling numbers
testifies rather to the imperfection of educational processes
throughout the country than to the severity of the tests, which were
very far below those of to-day. I have often heard it said, and
believe it true, that the difficulty was less with the knowledge--that
is, the nominal acquirements--of the appointees than with the then
prevalent methods of study and instruction, which had debauched the
powers of application. My father, after a long experience, used to
think that upon the whole there was better