re a year, the boy then receives the rate of a first class boy
as distinguished from a second class.

But to return to the routine. At 11.30 a.m. school and instructions
are ended, the bugle call for drill aloft is sounded, and then there
is a mighty tumult. Hundreds of boys are running along the decks and
up the ladders, and as though they were not smart enough, ship's
corporals make use of their canes very freely. At 11.45, in the
midst of drill, the bugler sounds: 'Cooks.' Cooks of messes repair to
the galley, fetch the dinner and lay it out under the supervision of
the caterer of the mess, who is generally a senior boy. At 12 a.m.
dinner is 'piped,' and every boy sits at the table according to his
seniority--that is to say, if one has been in the ship six months,
sitting next to him would be the boy who had joined the mess after
him in the order of time. It will thus be readily seen that every boy
has his own seat at the mess-table. But lest partiality should creep
in amongst the boys in the messes so that A would have a far better
dinner than B; and poor C all bone on his plate, or, as they say,
"two spuds and a joner," this order is very often reversed, and this
means that the caterer finds himself at the end of the stool with the
dinner of the youngest boy before him to eat, and it also means that
this last recruit in the mess finds himself possessor of the
caterer's plate of dinner.

At 1 p.m. instructions are resumed, and concluded at 3.30 p.m. The
boatswain's mate then pipes, "Hands shift in night clothing." The
uniform of the day is then taken off, and each boy wears a blue
serge suit. At the call of the bugle the boys fall in on the upper
deck with the clothes for washing. These are inspected by the
instructors for the purpose of seeing that each boy has stops in his
clothes--that is, two sets of string in each garment for hanging on
the line. This inspection of stops being over, then follows the
shrill cry, "Hands scrub and wash clothes."

I cannot hope to describe the scamper there is at this moment for the
tubs of water, and the reason for it is this--that the tubs are
limited, perhaps three allowed to each mess of twenty boys, and
considering the washing has to be done in a short time, the reader
will understand the cause of this dreadful war. And it happens every
day with the exception of Thursdays and Saturdays, when no washing is
done. The articles for washing on the various days are as follows--