Then the necessity for knowledge of how to operate those organizations brought about certain professions, first that of the military, second that of the priesthood, and later those of the law, medicine, engineering, etc.

As time has gone on, the preparation required for these professions, especially the progressive professions, has become increasingly difficult and increasingly demanded; and the members of the professions have become increasingly strict in their requirements of candidates for membership.
Now the profession that is the most strict of all, that demands the greatest variety of qualifications, and the earliest apprenticeship, is the military.

The military profession serves on both the land and the sea, in armies and navies; and while both the land and the sea branches are exacting in their demands, the sea or naval branch is the more exacting of the two; by reason of the fact that the naval profession is the more esoteric, the more apart from the others, the more peculiar.

In all the naval countries, suitable youths are taken in hand by their governments, and initiated into the "mysteries" of the naval profession--mysteries that would always remain mysteries to them, if their initiation were begun too late in life.

Many instances are known of men who obtained great excellence in professions which they entered late in life; but not one instance in the case of a man who entered the naval profession late in life.