The Caucasian

Graduation At Annapolis.

"June Week" at the Naval Academy and the Ways In Which Its Functions Differ From Commencement Ceremonies of Other Educational Institutions.

"June week," as graduation time is called at the United States Naval academy at Annapolis, varies in many important respects from commencement week at the average college or university. The training of a young man to fight for his country on a vessel of war necessarily differs from educating a boy to be a lawyer, doctor, minister, teacher, mining engineer or journalist or from training a young woman to excel in intellectual pursuits or the science of housekeeping. The studies at the Naval academy include many subjects taught in the curriculum of the average college, like the modern languages, mathematics and science, but a student who graduates from Yale or Harvard or Columbia or Princeton or Cornell or the similar institutions of the middle west or Pacific coast is not expected to know much about how a warship should be handled during an engagement with an enemy or to be on intimate terms with the articles and formulas of naval construction.

Much of the time during the graduation season at Annapolis is taken up with drills in which the future captains and rear admirals of the navy go through evolutions which are very interesting and spectacular and usually attract many visitors besides the immediate relatives of the young men who are to receive reward for their four years' work.

The academy is a national school supported by the government of the United States, and as such subject to the supervision of congress and the chief executive, and the cadets and their instructors are alert at this time especially to make a good showing when the eyes of the representatives of the nation are upon them. One of the events of the week is the inspection by the visiting board appointed by the president, acting under the authority of congress.

This year special interest has pertained to the graduating exercises at Annapolis because of the visit of the Baron and Baroness Uriu of Japan. The baron is a vice admiral of the Japanese navy and a graduate of the United States Naval academy in the class of '81. The academy had much to do with preparing him for his important part in the war with Russia. He and Admiral Dewey enjoy the highest rank of any of the academy's living graduates. The class of '81 held a dinner which the Japanese admiral attended, and he was a guest of honor at various other functions. June week begins with the receptions to the board of visitors and ends with the grand ball with which almost all educational institutions wind up the festivities signalizing the close of the academic year. One event of the week which always enlists the interest of visitors is the sail drill on board the Severn, the practice ship named in honor of the beautiful river which bounds one side of the campus. Gunnery, of course, is a subject which occupies leading attention at the academy, and the artillery drills are naturally foremost in interest. The efficiency of a warship is at bottom the efficiency of her battery, and it is considered the duty of every officer aboard her to see that the highest possible results are obtained from the ordnance equipment put into their hands to use.

SAIL DRILL ON THE SEVERN.

Few people are aware how broad an education is given to the graduate at Annapolis or how well his brain and body are both trained. Few appointments under the government involve the necessity of general and scientific attainments equal to those required of the officers of the navy. The commanders of ships they should possess a practical acquaintance with seamanship, but an accurate knowledge of those branches of mathematics connected with the science of navigation, with astronomy and geography, and as commanders of fleets or squadrons they must be well informed on all points of international law.