Second lieutenant

“ He is the second lieutenant, and has, consequently, the easiest berth among the sea lieutenants, being relieved from the drudgery of the first lieutenant, and exempt from the calls for extra duty, that are sometimes made upon the junior lieutenant. When his watch is over, and his division drilled, he is a gentleman at large, for the rest of the day. ”

“ The first lieutenant is one of the old woman’s school, an easy and good kind of person, but not fit to be first of an active frigate. The second lieutenant is a [pg 6] regular-built sailor, and knows his duty well, but he is fond of mast-heading the youngsters when they think they do not deserve it. The third lieutenant would be a sailor if he knew how to set about it; he generally begins at the wrong end, and is always making stern way, but,” said he, “he almost prays as good a stick as the skipper. As for the other officers, we have not so much to do with them as with those I have described. ”

“ He thinks this way because, having graduated at West Point this year, he is only a second lieutenant just now, and General Phillips is his captain and company commander.
It seems that in the Army, lieutenants are called "Mister" always, but all other officers must be addressed by their rank. At least that is what they tell me. But in Faye's company, the captain is called general, and the first lieutenant is called major, and as this is most confusing, I get things mixed sometimes. Most girls would. A soldier in uniform waited upon us at dinner, and that seemed so funny. ”

“ Hal and Noll had already guessed that much without difficulty. No officer quite like Lieutenant Ferrers had ever been turned out at West Point, and surely such a man had never risen from the ranks. Now, when all the West Point graduates have been commissioned into the Army, and all meritorious enlisted men have been promoted to second lieutenancies, then, if there be any vacancies left, the President fills these vacancies in the rank of second lieutenant, by appointing young men from civil life. ”

“ He should likewise be able to construct and dispose batteries to the best advantage; to plant cannon, mortars, and howitzers, so as to produce the greatest annoyance to an enemy. He is to be well skilled in the attack and defence of fortified places, and to be conversant in arithmetic, mathematics, and mechanics, &c.
Second Lieutenant, in the artillery, is the same as an ensign in an infantry regiment, being the youngest commissioned officer in the company. It is his duty to assist the first lieutenant in the detail of the company. ”

“ To become a second lieutenant in the Army, a man must either go through West Point, or have the equivalent of a college education, especially in mathematics, history, and law; and have, besides, an accurate knowledge of what is purely military. And when he is made a second lieutenant and enters upon his career as an officer, his studies begin afresh. He must study to prepare himself for subsequent promotions. ”

“ Provided, That no person shall be entitled to receive a commission as a second lieutenant after he shall have passed the age of thirty; as first lieutenant after he shall have passed the age of thirty-five ”

“ When I told my company commander (a second lieutenant) what I had done to have the doctors perform the physicals, immediately he became nervous and shaky at the very thought of an enlisted man going to the Captain of the base to solve his problem. ”

“ He expected to be made chaplain of the regiment and failing in that, soon left us, taking with him about $90.00 of the company’s funds. The second lieutenant was a man by the name of Williams, a Barre man. I remember him as a man with a very large beard. A tall, slim man who was something of a drill master used to come over to camp, from the city and drill us occasionally. ”

“ Nothing unusual occurred the first two hours, but after the second relief was posted the lieutenant made his rounds and returned to the camp fire and had a big laugh with the old soldiers present. He had taken the gun from a timid recruit, had the poor fellow badly scared and boastingly said that he would take every recruits’ gun that belonged to the guard. The third relief was placed and the recruit stationed at his post, walked his beat and kept a sharp lookout, especially for the lieutenant. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That each regiment of artillery shall consist of one colonel, one lieutenant colonel, one major, one sergeant major, one quartermaster sergeant, and nine companies, one of which shall be designated and equipped as light artillery; and that there shall be attached to each regiment of artillery one supernumerary captain to perform ordnance duty; and that each company shall consist of one captain, two first lieutenants, two second lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, three artificers, two musicians, and forty-two privates. ”

“ And once he takes his place as a lieutenant he is on perfect equality as regards rank with all the other lieutenants on board, with the sole exception of Number 1, the first lieutenant. None is afore or greater than another. So I should think it might be in a great liner, where all the [Pg 144] officers will likely hold the same certificate. Below the second, or navigating officer, they might all rank alike as watch officers, or some such title, and their pay should be on the same level, as with the naval lieutenants, where the only difference is in small increases for special duties. ”

“ Then you order Red Dog forward with his interpreter and bring him in here a prisoner. You've not an instant to lose," he finished as a trooper came up at the run, Boynton's big bay trotting at his heels. The lieutenant was in saddle in a second. "Are you agreed?" he asked. [Pg 258]
"Why, they'll say we began it, lieutenant. They'll swear they were only coming to talk. They've always been accustomed to come here whenever they wanted to. We have only a handful of men; they've got a thousand fighting braves within a day's call. ”

“ He carries in his hand a complete list of his division, and of each man's clothes; and when the young gentlemen under his orders have finished their work, and taken down what is wanted, the lieutenant goes along the line to investigate the whole anew. He then collects the different memorandums of slops wanted, and proceeds to make his report to the captain, who either sanctions or disapproves of the decision of the officer, as he pleases. Frequently the captain himself goes along the divisions, to look at the men's clothing ”

“ Villa asked, "With salt, Joe?"
Major Barris sighed. "No use trying to tell you space chicks anything. You're lieutenants now, and a lieutenant has the thickest skull of any rank, no matter what service he belongs to." ”

“ As the sergeant lit them he could see a bit of the red tip in the lieutenant's mouth. He dragged deep on his own, pretending he could taste lipstick.
"Lieutenant," he said. "It doesn't matter where you hit them, does it? I mean it doesn't hurt them at all?"
"No," the lieutenant said. "No, it doesn't matter. They just go to sleep."
"I'm glad." After a while the sergeant said, "I guess I'll hit the sack."
"It's still early."
"Yes. But I like to get up early. There's always a line in the latrine—at the shaving bowls."
"Combat troops don't have to shave," the lieutenant said. ”

“ When the Lieutenant came along five minutes after, muffled to the ears in a wet mackintosh, he found the gunners hard at work.
“I started in to pull the sandbags clear, sir,” reported the Sergeant-Major. “Right you are,” said the Lieutenant. “Then you’d better put the double detachments on to pull one gun out and then the other. ”

“ No doubt it is a trying ordeal to have some young regular-army lieutenant ride up to your tent at an hour's notice, and leisurely devote a day to probing every weak spot in your command,—to stand by while he smells at every camp-kettle, detects every delinquent gun-sling, ferrets out old shoes from behind the mess-bunks, spies out every tent-pole not labelled with the sergeant's name, asks to see the cash-balance of each company-fund, and perplexes your best captain on forming from two ranks into one by the left flank. ”

“ We had not been many days at sea, before we discovered that our first lieutenant was a most abominable tyrant, a brutal fellow, a drunkard, and a glutton, with a long red nose, and a large belly; he frequently sent half-a-dozen grown-up midshipmen to the mast-head at a time. ”

“ Three or four youngsters, even though absolute novices, might always be kept well employed in a sloop-of-war, and perhaps twice that number in a frigate or line-of-battle ship fitting. In peace time, however, it will happen that the crowd of young gentlemen is so great, and the disposition to learn so little diffused amongst them, that the first lieutenant is often glad to get rid of them altogether by letting them waste their time and money on shore. ”

“ Every civilian officer fumes over to himself that he is not an executive; every lieutenant curses the time that must pass before he is a lieutenant-commander, and so on all through. Wherever they are in the professions, they want to be better and higher. ”

“ The first lieutenant told me that I had acted very judiciously in resisting at first his undue exertion of authority; that he was at once a tyrant, a bully, and a coward, and would be careful how he attacked me again. “But be on your guard,” said he, “he will never forgive you; and when he is most agreeable there is the most mischief to be dreaded. ”

“ And then there are certainly a few who are really soldiers, heart and soul, but their number is small—where are they to be found? Among the subordinate officers I have scarcely known a single lieutenant who did not curse and swear when he was set to perform a duty, and who would not have preferred to depart at once if only he knew how he was to earn his living. This sounds hard, but I assure you it is quite true. Even when a lieutenant says, 'I like being an officer,' it is generally because of the position it gives him in Society and not because he likes exercising and drilling the men. ”

“ I do not know if you will understand what I am going to say, Olga, but the greatest misfortune for our lieutenants is—I do not say our officers, but only our lieutenants—that on account of their uniform and position they can get credit everywhere. Many educated, or only half-educated, rich people who gladly entertain the officers, so that they may be considered in 'Society,' constantly press their assistance upon these lieutenants just on the chance of their getting into difficulties. The lieutenant sees it all quite clearly ”

“ No one could ever hope to find a more thorough Fusilier than the man who went to sleep on guard and let a calf eat his clothes off. Such conduct deserved most distinguished regard, as an encouragement to the Fusiliers. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General of the Battalion, the highest rank in our corps. ”

“ When sufficient officers are present for duty, there should be a captain and lieutenant, besides the lieutenant to carry the Colour, with the right guard, which will form the escort to receive the Colour. ”

“ George agreed, "that is why I am astonished that our officers don't feel like that. If only the girls, who so often regard a lieutenant as the paragon of perfection, knew, or could hear with their own ears how the officers talk about them after they have been to an entertainment, they would blush with shame, and a lieutenant would soon cease to be their ideal. There are, of course, exceptions, thank God! but most of my fellow-officers are as I have just described, and it is the same in other regiments; to them a woman is just like a horse—a thing to be examined and appraised. ”

“ The lower you get the more officers there are, and the harder it is to see the promising ones in the crowd; but once past the rank of major the air gets very much cleared by the merciless way they have been weeded out, and the higher officers are the very flower of middle-aged German males. As for those below, a lieutenant is a bright and beautiful being who admires no one so much as himself ”

“ He has served in every class of vessel in the service, and done the duty of first lieutenant for twenty years; he is now on promotion—that is to say, after he has taken a certain number of tubs of gin, he will be rewarded with his rank as commander. It is a pity that what he takes inside of him does not count, for he takes it morning, noon, and night. He is just filling his fourteenth glass: he always keeps a regular account, as he never exceeds his limited number, which is seventeen; then he is exactly down to his bearings.
[Pg 201]
Lieutenant Appleboy. ”

“ When a sufficient number of hands have been volunteered at the rendezvous, and stationed to the different parts of the ship's duty, the first lieutenant should form them into separate working parties, as carefully selected as possible for the different kinds of work required. The gunner will take one of these gangs to the ordnance-wharf, to fit the tackles and breechings; another party will be sent to the sail-loft to fit the sails; a third party may be occupied with stowing the water-tanks, and preparing the holds for the provisions ”

“ But it would be much easier for the Lieutenant, who can ride with me altho’ he does not, or for the Corporal, who to my great satisfaction accompanies me, when we are out of town to push forward and meet another carriage with prepared horses The scheme could not fail unless we were betrayed, which to avoid I have a plan equally easy, and you may depend upon an undoubted success. The Lieutenant is an old slavish hardened fool. ”