THE "YOUNGSTERS" WHO BECAME "SPOONS ON"
It was a most critical moment in the life histories of several
young men who had grown to consider themselves as future officers
in the United States Navy!
Such a man as Midshipman Bender was certain to report any form
of hazing he detected.
Now, the usual punishment meted out to hazers at either Annapolis or
West Point is dismissal from the service!
True, this was not brutal hazing, but merely the light form of
the sport known as "running" the new man.
Nevertheless, "all hazing looks alike" to the public, when posted
by the newspapers, and the Naval Academy authorities deal severely
with even "running."
So, for all of the "youngsters," or third class men, who had been
conducting the evening's festivities, all the elements of trouble,
and perhaps of dismissal, were at hand.
But Dave Darrin had been the first to hear the soft approach of
footsteps, and somehow, he had guessed at the meaning of it all.
Just in the fraction of a second before the knock had sounded
at the door Dave had made a fine handspring that brought him from
his topsy-turvy attitude to a position of standing on his feet.
And, at the same time, he held the washbowl in his hand without
having spilled a drop of the water. Like a flash Dave few across
the room, depositing the bowl where it belonged. With a towel
he wiped his hair, then swiftly mopped his face dry. Hair brush
and comb in hand, he turned, saving:
"Why, I suppose, gentlemen, Dalzell and myself were very fair
athletes in the High School sense of the word. But it's a long
jump from that to aspiring to the Navy football team. Of course
we'll turn out for practice, if you wish, but--"
At this moment, Lieutenant Bender, the "duty-crazy" one, thrust
the door open.
Here Dave, on his way to the mirror, hairbrush and comb in hand,
halted as though for the first time aware of the accusing presence
of Bender, midshipman in charge of the floor for the day.
"Uh-hum!" choked Midshipman Bender more confused, even, than he
had expected the others to be.
"Looks like rather good material, doesn't he, Bender?" inquired
Mr. Trotter. "Green, of course, and yet--"
"I didn't come here to discuss Navy athletics," replied Midshipman
Bender.
"Oh, an official visit--is that it?" asked shipman Hayes, favoring
the official visitor with a baby-stare. "As it is past graduation,
and there are no evening study hours, there is no regulation against
visiting in the rooms of other members of the brigade."
"No," snapped Mr. Bender, "there is not."
Saying this the midshipman in charge turned on his heel and left
the room.
An instant after the door had closed the lately scared youngsters
expressed themselves by a broad grin, which deepened to a very
decided chuckle as Mr. Bender's footsteps died away.
"Mister," cried Midshipman Trotter, favoring Darrin with a glance
of frank friendliness, "do you know that you saved us from frapping
the pap hard?"
"And that perhaps you've saved us from bilging?" added Midshipman
Hayes.
"I'm such a greenhorn about the Navy, sir, that I am afraid I
don't follow you in the least, sir," Darrin replied quietly.
Then they explained to him that the "pap" is the conduct report,
and that "to frap" is to hit. To "frap the pap" means to "get
stuck on" the conduct report for a breach of discipline. A "bilger"
is one who is dropped from the service, or who is turned back
to the class below.
"I judged that there was some trouble coming sir," Dave confessed,
"and I did the best that I could. It was good luck on my part that
I was able to be of service to you."
"Good luck, eh?" retorted Midshipman Trotter. "Third class men,
fall in!"
As the "youngsters" lined up Mr. Trotter, standing at the right
of the line, asked coaxingly:
"Mister, will you be condescending enough to pass down the line
and shake hands with each of us?"
Flushing modestly, but grinning, Dave did as asked--or directed.
"Mister," continued Midshipman Trotter impressively, "we find
ourselves very close to being 'spoons on' you."
For a youngster to be "spoons on" a new fourth classman means
for the former to treat the latter very nearly as though he were
a human being.
"Now, you green dandelions may go," suggested Mr. Trotter, turning
to the four "visiting" plebes.
As soon as this had come about Trotter turned to Dave Darrin.
"Mister, we humble representatives of the third class are going
to show you the only sign of appreciation within our power. We
are going to invite you to stroll down the deck and visit us in
our steerage. Your roommate is invited to join us."
Dave and Dan promptly accepted, with becoming appreciation. All
of the youngsters escorted Dave and Dan down the corridor to
Midshipman Trotter's room.
In the course of the next hour the youngsters told these new midshipmen
much about the life at the Naval Academy that it would otherwise
have taken the two plebes long to have found out for themselves.
They were initiated into much of the slang language that the older
midshipmen use when conversing together. Many somewhat obscure
points in the regulations were made clear to them.
Lest the reader may wonder why new fourth class men should tamely
submit to hazing or "running," when the regulations of the Naval
Academy expressly prohibit these upper class sports, it may be
explained that the midshipmen of the brigade have their own internal
discipline.
A new man may very easily evade being hazed, if he insists upon it.
His first refusals will be met with challenges to fight. If he
continues to refuse to be "hazed" or "run," he will soon find
himself ostracized by all of the upper class men. Then his own
classmates will have to "cut" him, or they, too, will be "cut."
The man who is "cut" may usually as well resign from the Naval
Academy at once. His continued stay there will become impossible
when no other midshipman will recognize him except in discharge
of official duties.
The new man at Annapolis, if he has any sense at all, will quietly
and cheerfully submit to being "run." This fate falls upon every
new fourth class man, or nearly so. The only fourth class man
who escapes bring "run" is the one who is considered as being
beneath notice. Unhappy, indeed, is the plebe whom none of the
youngsters above him will consent to haze. And frequent it happens
that the most popular man in an upper class is one who, while
in the fourth class, was the most unmercifully hazed.
Often a new man at the Naval Academy arrives with a firm resolution
to resist all attempts at running or hazing. He considers himself
as good as any of the upper class men, and is going to insist on
uniformly good treatment from the upper class men.
If this be the new man's frame of mind he is set down as being
"ratey."
But often the new man arrives with a conviction that he will have
to submit to a certain amount of good-natured hazing by his class
elders. Yet this man, from having been spoiled more or less at
home, is "fresh." In this case he is called only "touge."
Hence it is a far more hopeful sign to be "touge" than to be "ratey."
The new man who honestly tries to be neither "touge" nor "ratey,"
and who has a sensible resolve to submit to tradition, is sometimes
termed "almost sea-going."
Dave Darrin was promptly recognized as being "almost sea-going."
He would need but little running.
Dan Dalzell, on the other hand, was soon listed as being "touge,"
though not "ratey."