and eighteen years may enlist to serve
in the navy until they shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years. The
consent of parents or guardians, however, must first be obtained. These
boys, after being sworn in, are sent on board of naval vessels and are
carefully trained for the service of the navy. Before a boy is accepted
he is obliged to pass the examining board of officers, satisfying them
that he is of robust frame, intelligent, of good moral character--for
the navy is in no sense a reformatory--that he has a perfectly sound and
healthy constitution, and that he is able to read and write. The
elements of an ordinary English education are given the apprentices, and
their professional studies embrace the knotting, splicing, hitching, and
bending of rope; fancy marlinespike seamanship; sewing canvas; bending,
reefing, and furling sail; the names and use of the various gear in the
way of standing and running rigging; and the manner in which it should
be set up and rove; terms for the different parts of the ship; military
tactics; broadside exercise; rifle drill; the loading and firing of the
great guns, as well as the handling of smaller pieces of ordnance, such
as Hotchkiss and Gatling guns, etc. Auxiliary to these studies the boys
are taught rowing and swimming.

Apprentices are enlisted as "third-class boys," and receive $9.50 per
month. Their food is also given to them; but their outfits of clothes,
furnished to them by the paymaster of the vessel when they join, are
charged against their accounts, and they receive no money until the
indebtedness has been wiped out. While serving on board of naval
training vessels, apprentices may be promoted to "second-class boys,"
and have their pay increased to $11.50 per month, and when doing duty on
cruisers of the navy they are eligible to higher ratings and pay as a
reward of proficiency and good conduct.

The highest rank that an apprentice may hope to gain is that of
warrant-officer, so that he cannot look forward to a grade beyond that
of gunner or boatswain--the pay of which, however, reaches $1800 a year
after a certain period of service. Warrant-officers are, like all other
officers of the navy, retired after reaching the age of sixty-two years,
and a generous percentage of their active-service salary is paid to them
as long as they live.

Recruiting stations for apprentices are to be found in New York,
Philadelphia, and San Francisco, where boys may apply at any ti