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CONTENTS 7

6 Frequency Response of FIR Filters 214

6-1 Sinusoidal Response of FIR Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
6-2 Superposition and the Frequency Response . . . . . . . . . . . 218
6-3 Steady-State and Transient Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
6-4 Properties of the Frequency Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
6-4.1 Relation to Impulse Response and Difference
Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
6-4.2 Periodicity of H (ej ω̂ ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
6-4.3 Conjugate Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
6-5 Graphical Representation of the Frequency Response . . . . . . 226
6-5.1 Delay System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
6-5.2 First-Difference System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
6-5.3 A Simple Lowpass Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
6-6 Cascaded LTI Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
6-7 Running-Sum Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
6-7.1 Plotting the Frequency Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
6-7.2 Cascade of Magnitude and Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
6-7.3 Frequency Response of Running Averager . . . . . . . . 240
6-7.4 Experiment: Smoothing an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
6-8 Filtering Sampled Continuous-Time Signals . . . . . . . . . . . 244
6-8.1 Example: A Lowpass Averager for
Continuous-Time Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
6-8.2 Interpretation of Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
6-9 Summary and Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
6-10 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

7 Discrete-Time Fourier Transform 259

7-1 DTFT: Fourier Transform for Discrete-Time Signals . . . . . . . 260
7-1.1 Forward DTFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
7-1.2 DTFT of a Shifted Impulse Sequence . . . . . . . . . . 261
7-1.3 Linearity of the DTFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
7-1.4 Uniqueness of the DTFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
7-1.5 DTFT of a Pulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
7-1.6 DTFT of a Right-Sided Exponential Sequence . . . . . . 264
7-1.7 Existence of the DTFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
7-1.8 The Inverse DTFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
7-1.9 Bandlimited DTFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
7-1.10 Inverse DTFT for the Right-Sided Exponential . . . . . . 270
7-1.11 The DTFT Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
8 CONTENTS

7-2 Properties of the DTFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

7-2.1 Linearity Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
7-2.2 Time-Delay Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
7-2.3 Frequency-Shift Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
7-2.3.1 DTFT of a Finite-Length
Complex Exponential . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
7-2.3.2 DTFT of a Finite-Length Real
Cosine Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
7-2.4 Convolution and the DTFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
7-2.4.1 Filtering is Convolution . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
7-2.5 Energy Spectrum and the Autocorrelation Function . . . 277
7-2.5.1 Autocorrelation Function . . . . . . . . . . . 278
7-3 Ideal Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
7-3.1 Ideal Lowpass Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
7-3.2 Ideal Highpass Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
7-3.3 Ideal Bandpass Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
7-4 Practical FIR Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
7-4.1 Windowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
7-4.2 Filter Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
7-4.2.1 Window the Ideal Impulse Response . . . . . 286
7-4.2.2 Frequency Response of Practical
Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
7-4.2.3 Passband Defined for the Frequency
Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
7-4.2.4 Stopband Defined for the Frequency
Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
7-4.2.5 Transition Zone of the LPF . . . . . . . . . . 290
7-4.2.6 Summary of Filter Specifications . . . . . . . 291
7-4.3 GUI for Filter Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
7-5 Table of Fourier Transform Properties and Pairs . . . . . . . . . 292
7-6 Summary and Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
7-7 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

8 Discrete Fourier Transform 301

8-1 Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
8-1.1 The Inverse DFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
8-1.2 DFT Pairs from the DTFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
8-1.2.1 DFT of Shifted Impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
8-1.2.2 DFT of Complex Exponential . . . . . . . . . 307
8-1.3 Computing the DFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
8-1.4 Matrix Form of the DFT and IDFT . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
8-2 Properties of the DFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
CONTENTS 9

8-2.1 DFT Periodicity for X[k] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

8-2.2 Negative Frequencies and the DFT . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
8-2.3 Conjugate Symmetry of the DFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
8-2.3.1 Ambiguity at X[N/2] . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
8-2.4 Frequency-Domain Sampling and Interpolation . . . . . 314
8-2.5 DFT of a Real Cosine Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
8-3 Inherent Time-Domain Periodicity of x[n] in the DFT . . . . . . 318
8-3.1 DFT Periodicity for x[n] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
8-3.2 The Time Delay Property for the DFT . . . . . . . . . . 321
8-3.2.1 Zero Padding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
8-3.3 The Convolution Property for the DFT . . . . . . . . . . 324
8-4 Table of Discrete Fourier Transform Properties and Pairs . . . . 326
8-5 Spectrum Analysis of Discrete Periodic Signals . . . . . . . . . 327
8-5.1 Periodic Discrete-Time Signal: Discrete
Fourier Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
8-5.2 Sampling Bandlimited Periodic Signals . . . . . . . . . 331
8-5.3 Spectrum Analysis of Periodic Signals . . . . . . . . . . 334
8-6 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
8-6.1 DTFT of Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
8-7 The Spectrogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
8-7.1 An Illustrative Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
8-7.2 Time-Dependent DFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
8-7.3 The Spectrogram Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
8-7.4 Interpretation of the Spectrogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
8-7.4.1 Frequency Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
8-7.5 Spectrograms in MATLAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
8-8 The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
8-8.1 Derivation of the FFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
8-8.1.1 FFT Operation Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
8-9 Summary and Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
8-10 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

9 z-Transforms 367
9-1 Definition of the z-Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
9-2 Basic z-Transform Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
9-2.1 Linearity Property of the z-Transform . . . . . . . . . . 371
9-2.2 Time-Delay Property of the z-Transform . . . . . . . . . 371
9-2.3 A General z-Transform Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
9-3 The z-Transform and Linear Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
9-3.1 Unit-Delay System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
9-3.2 z−1 Notation in Block Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
9-3.3 The z-Transform of an FIR Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
10 CONTENTS

9-3.4 z-Transform of the Impulse Response . . . . . . . . . . 375

9-3.5 Roots of a z-Transform Polynomial . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
9-4 Convolution and the z-Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
9-4.1 Cascading Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
9-4.2 Factoring z-Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
9-4.3 Deconvolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
9-5 Relationship Between the z-Domain and the ω̂-Domain . . . . . 384
9-5.1 The z-Plane and the Unit Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
9-5.2 The z-Transform and the DFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
9-6 The Zeros and Poles of H (z) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
9-6.1 Pole-Zero Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
9-6.2 Significance of the Zeros of H (z) . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
9-6.3 Nulling Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
9-6.4 Graphical Relation Between z and ω̂ . . . . . . . . . . . 393
9-6.5 Three-Domain Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
9-7 Simple Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
9-7.1 Generalize the L-Point Running-Sum Filter . . . . . . . 397
9-7.2 A Complex Bandpass Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
9-7.3 A Bandpass Filter with Real Coefficients . . . . . . . . . 399
9-8 Practical Bandpass Filter Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
9-9 Properties of Linear-Phase Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
9-9.1 The Linear-Phase Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
9-9.2 Locations of the Zeros of FIR Linear-
Phase Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
9-10 Summary and Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
9-11 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

10 IIR Filters 414

10-1 The General IIR Difference Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
10-2 Time-Domain Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
10-2.1 Linearity and Time Invariance of IIR Filters . . . . . . 418
10-2.2 Impulse Response of a First-Order IIR System . . . . . 419
10-2.3 Response to Finite-Length Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
10-2.4 Step Response of a First-Order Recursive System . . . 422
10-3 System Function of an IIR Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
10-3.1 The General First-Order Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
10-3.2 H (z) from the Impulse Response . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
10-4 The System Function and Block Diagram Structures . . . . . . . 428
10-4.1 Direct Form I Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
10-4.2 Direct Form II Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
10-4.3 The Transposed Form Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
10-5 Poles and Zeros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
CONTENTS 11

10-5.1 Roots in MATLAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

10-5.2 Poles or Zeros at z = 0 or ∞ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
10-5.3 Output Response from Pole Location . . . . . . . . . . 435
10-6 Stability of IIR Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
10-6.1 The Region of Convergence and Stability . . . . . . . . 438
10-7 Frequency Response of an IIR Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
10-7.1 Frequency Response Using MATLAB . . . . . . . . . 441
10-7.2 Three-Dimensional Plot of a System Function . . . . . 443
10-8 Three Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
10-9 The Inverse z-Transform and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
10-9.1 Revisiting the Step Response of a
First-Order System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
10-9.2 A General Procedure for Inverse z-Transformation . . . 449
10-10 Steady-State Response and Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
10-11 Second-Order Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
10-11.1 z-Transform of Second-Order Filters . . . . . . . . . . 455
10-11.2 Structures for Second-Order IIR Systems . . . . . . . . 456
10-11.3 Poles and Zeros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
10-11.4 Impulse Response of a Second-Order IIR System . . . 460
10-11.4.1 Distinct Real Poles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
10-11.5 Complex Poles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
10-12 Frequency Response of Second-Order IIR Filter . . . . . . . . . 466
10-12.1 Frequency Response via MATLAB . . . . . . . . . . . 467
10-12.2 3-dB Bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
10-12.3 Three-Dimensional Plot of a System Function . . . . . 470
10-12.4 Pole-Zero Placing with the PeZ GUI . . . . . . . . . . 472
10-13 Example of an IIR Lowpass Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
10-14 Summary and Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
10-15 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

A Complex Numbers 489

A-1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
A-2 Notation for Complex Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
A-2.1 Rectangular Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
A-2.2 Polar Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
A-2.3 Conversion: Rectangular and Polar . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
A-2.4 Difficulty in Second or Third Quadrant . . . . . . . . . . 494
A-3 Euler’s Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
A-3.1 Inverse Euler Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
A-4 Algebraic Rules for Complex Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
A-4.1 Complex Number Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
A-5 Geometric Views of Complex Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
12 CONTENTS

A-5.1 Geometric View of Addition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

A-5.2 Geometric View of Subtraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
A-5.3 Geometric View of Multiplication . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
A-5.4 Geometric View of Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
A-5.5 Geometric View of the Inverse, z−1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
A-5.6 Geometric View of the Conjugate, z∗ . . . . . . . . . . . 503
A-6 Powers and Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
A-6.1 Roots of Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
A-6.1.1 Procedure for Finding Multiple Roots . . . . . 506
A-7 Summary and Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
A-8 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508

B Programming in MATLAB 511

B-1 MATLAB Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

B-2 Matrix Operations and Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
B-2.1 The Colon Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
B-2.2 Matrix and Array Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
B-2.2.1 A Review of Matrix Multiplication . . . . . . 514
B-2.2.2 Pointwise Array Operations . . . . . . . . . . 515
B-3 Plots and Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
B-3.1 Figure Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
B-3.2 Multiple Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
B-3.3 Printing and Saving Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
B-4 Programming Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
B-4.1 MATLAB Built-In Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
B-4.2 Program Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
B-5 MATLAB Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
B-6 Writing a MATLAB Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
B-6.1 Creating a Clip Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
B-6.2 Debugging a MATLAB M-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
B-7 Programming Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
B-7.1 Avoiding Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
B-7.2 Repeating Rows or Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
B-7.3 Vectorizing Logical Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
B-7.4 Creating an Impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
B-7.5 The Find Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
B-7.6 Seek to Vectorize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
B-7.7 Programming Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
CONTENTS 13

C Fourier Series 527

C-1 Fourier Series Derivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
C-1.1 Fourier Integral Derivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
C-2 Examples of Fourier Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
C-2.1 The Pulse Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
C-2.1.1 Spectrum of a Pulse Wave . . . . . . . . . . . 536
C-2.1.2 Finite Synthesis of a Pulse Wave . . . . . . . 537
C-2.2 Triangular Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538
C-2.2.1 Spectrum of a Triangular Wave . . . . . . . . 540
C-2.2.2 Finite Synthesis of a Triangular Wave . . . . . 540
C-2.3 Half-Wave Rectified Sine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
C-2.3.1 Finite Synthesis of a Half-Wave
Rectified Sine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
C-3 Operations on Fourier Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
C-3.1 Scaling or Adding a Constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
C-3.2 Adding Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
C-3.3 Time-Scaling Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
C-3.4 Time-Shifting Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
C-3.5 Differentiation Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
C-3.6 Frequency-Shifting Property and Multiplying
by a Sinusoid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
C-4 Average Power, Convergence, and Optimality . . . . . . . . . . 551
C-4.1 Derivation of Parseval’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
C-4.2 Convergence of Fourier Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
C-4.3 Minimum Mean-Square Approximation . . . . . . . . . 556
C-5 The Spectrum in Pulsed-Doppler Radar Waveform Design . . . . 558
C-5.1 Measuring Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
C-5.2 Measuring Velocity from Doppler Shift . . . . . . . . . 559
C-5.3 Pulsed-Doppler Radar Waveform . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
C-5.4 Measuring the Doppler Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
C-6 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563

D Laboratory Projects 571

Index 574
This page intentionally left blank
 Preface

This book, entitled simply DSP First, is the second edition of the text DSP First: A
Multimedia Approach (1998) which was packaged with a CD-ROM that provided many
resources to extend the boundaries of a traditional textbook. In 2003, a second book
entitled Signal Processing First was produced with a broader set of topics that included
four new chapters on continuous-time signal processing and the Fourier transform, as well
as updated versions of the first eight chapters of DSP First. New material was produced
for the CD-ROM bundled with the 2003 textbook, and all the supporting resources have
now moved to a website for easier access.
These three books and the Companion Website are the result of more than 20 years
of work grounded on the premise that digital signal processing (DSP) is an ideal starting
point for the study of both electrical engineering and computer engineering. In the summer
of 1993, two of us (JHMc and RWS) began to develop a one-quarter course that was to
become the required introductory course for Georgia Tech computer engineering (CmpE)
students. We argued that the subject of digital signal processing had everything we
wanted in a first course for computer engineers: it introduced the students to the use
of mathematics as a language for thinking about and solving engineering problems; it
laid useful groundwork for subsequent courses; it made a strong connection to digital
computation as a means for implementing systems; and it provided the tools to discuss
interesting applications that would motivate beginning engineers to do the hard work of
connecting mathematics and computation to problem solving. Nothing has happened in
15
16 PREFACE

the past 22 years to change our minds on this point. Indeed, our teaching experience
with more than 6,000 students at Georgia Tech has only strengthened our conviction that
digital signal processing, distilled to its essence, is an ideal introductory subject for both
electrical and computer engineering students.1 In fact, we have become firmly convinced
that a course on DSP at the level of this text should be required of every engineering and
computer science student.
From the beginning, we believed that “hands-on” experience with real signals was
crucial, so we expended considerable effort on developing additional material for labora-
tory exercises and projects based on MATLAB. In the laboratory assignments, students
can experience the effects of signal processing operations that they have implemented on
sound and image signals. For example, they can synthesize music from sinusoids, but they
can also see that those same sinusoids are the basis for the wireless systems that they use
routinely to access the Internet. These experiences, available on the Companion Website,
will augment and reinforce the mathematical concepts that form the basis of DSP.
In addition to the 25 detailed lab assignments, the Companion Website includes many
resources that extend the printed textbook with material such as demonstrations and ani-
mations used in classes, and hundreds of solved homework problems. The impetus for hav-
ing this website came from MarkYoder who, in 1995, while on sabbatical leave at Georgia
Tech from Rose-Hulman, had the idea to put all of this material into a form that other teach-
ers (and students) could access easily. Interactive MATLAB demonstrations have been
created for demonstrating specific topics such as convolution and frequency response, and
most of these are now used as the basis for some of the laboratory exercises. As teachers,
all this material has changed the way we present ideas, because it expands the ways to visu-
alize a concept “beyond the equations.” Over the years, the collection of resources on our
website has continued to grow. In the future, we will explore new ideas for presenting the
concepts of DSP, and hope to move beyond the printed page to an e-Text version that would
truly integrate the narrative of the book with the visualizations of the companion website.
The distinguishing feature of this text (and its progenitors) is that it presents signal
processing at a level consistent with an introductory ECE course, i.e., the sophomore
level (second year) in a typical U.S. university. The list of topics in the book is not
surprising given its emphasis on discrete-time signal processing, but since we want a
course that is broadly accessible to sophomores, we feel that we must combine signal
processing concepts with some introductory ideas. Part of the reason for this is that in
many electrical engineering curriculums, signals and systems and DSP typically have
been treated as junior- and senior-level courses, for which a traditional background of
linear circuits and linear systems is assumed. Our approach, on the other hand, makes
the subject much more accessible to students in other majors such as computer science

1 Inour development of these ideas, two books by Professor Ken Steiglitz of Princeton University had a
major impact on our thinking: An Introduction to Discrete Systems, John Wiley & Sons, 1972, and A Digital
Signal Processing Primer: With Applications to Computer Music, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company,
1996. Steiglitz’s 1972 book was well ahead of its time, since DSP had few practical applications, and even
simple simulations on then-available batch processing computers required significant programming effort.
However, by 1993 when we began our work, easy-to-use software environments such as MATLAB were
widely available for implementing DSP computations on powerful personal computers.
PREFACE 17

and other engineering fields. This point is increasingly important because non-specialists
need to use DSP techniques routinely in many areas of science and technology.

Content of the New Edition. This new edition has an organization similar to the first
edition of DSP First. A look at the table of contents shows that the book begins very
simply (Chapter 2) with a detailed discussion of continuous-time sinusoidal signals and
their representation by complex exponentials. This is a topic traditionally introduced in
a linear circuits course, but including it here makes it immediately accessible for the rest
of this book, especially for students who come from other backgrounds. If students have
already studied linear circuits, this chapter can be skipped, or rapidly covered. We then
proceed to introduce the spectrum concept (Chapter 3) by considering sums of sinusoidal
signals, culminating with a brief introduction to Fourier series. Although Chapter 3 of
the first edition covered the same basic ideas, this chapter has some new material.2
Next we make the transition to discrete-time signals by considering sampled
sinusoidal signals (Chapter 4). We have found that it is not necessary to invoke the
continuous-time Fourier transform to make the important issues in sampling clear. All
that is needed is the simple trigonometric identity cos(θ + 2π ) = cos(θ ). In fact, in
Chapters 2–4 (with the exception of Fourier Series), we have only needed to rely on the
simple mathematics of sine and cosine functions. The basic linear system concepts are
then introduced with running average systems and other simple FIR filters (Chapter 5).
Impulse sequences are introduced which leads to the impulse response characterizing a
filter. Convolution is treated as a numerical operation in the first pass at this idea. The
key concept of frequency response is derived and interpreted for FIR filters (Chapter 6).
Sinusoids are the primary signals of interest, and we emphasize the magnitude and phase
change experienced by a sinusoid when filtered by a linear time-invariant system.
At this point we depart significantly from the first edition by introducing (Chapter 7)
the concept of discrete-time Fourier transform (DTFT), which arises naturally from the
frequency response of a discrete-time system. The concept of the inverse DTFT completes
the description of an invertible transform and also enables us to describe ideal filters. It
is then natural to move from the DTFT to the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), which
is simply a sampled version of the DTFT and thus computable through fast algorithms
that are readily available (Chapter 8). Chapters 7 and 8 are completely new. They are
a response to frequent requests from teachers who want to expose their students to the
powerful concept of the Fourier transform, and we have found that sophomores are fully
capable of understanding these concepts and putting them to use. These two chapters bring
many of the ideas of practical spectrum analysis into focus with the goal of providing the
knowledge to successfully employ the powerful spectrum analysis tools readily available
in software environments such as MATLAB.
Finally, the last two chapters return to the flow of the first edition. We introduce
z-transforms (Chapter 9) and IIR systems (Chapter 10). At this stage, a student who
has faithfully read the text, worked homework problems, and done the laboratory
assignments will be rewarded with the ability to understand applications involving the
2 Furthermore, for instructors who prefer to dive deeper into Fourier analysis of periodic signals, Appendix

C on Fourier series is essentially another entire chapter on that topic.

18 PREFACE

sampling theorem, discrete-time filtering, and spectrum analysis. Furthermore, they are
well prepared to move on to courses in linear analog circuits, continuous-time signals and
systems, and control systems. All of these courses can build on the foundation established
through the study of this text.

Summary of What’s New in This Edition

• New material on the Discrete-Time Fourier Transform (DTFT) has been developed
and is presented in Chapter 7. The presentation makes an easy transition from the
frequency response concept to begin the study of the general idea of a Fourier
transform.
• New material on ideal filters and digital filter design is presented in Chapter 7 as a
very useful application of the DTFT. The window method for FIR filter design is
presented in detail.
• New material on the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) has been developed and is
presented in Chapter 8. The presentation adopts the point of view that the DFT is
a sampled version of the DTFT, and also develops the relationship of the DFT to
the discrete Fourier series (DFS).
• New material on spectrum analysis and the spectrogram has been developed for
the last sections of Chapter 8. This provides a solid foundation for understanding
time-frequency analysis of signals as is commonly done with the FFT algorithm,
as well as the role of windowing in frequency resolution.
• Chapters 7 and 8 are derived from Chapter 9 in the first edition and Chapter 13
in Signal Processing First. The new chapters are a significant rewrite to make this
material accessible at the introductory level. The benefit is that students can learn
the ideas of practical spectrum analysis which can then be reinforced with a lab
experience where actual signals are processed with the tools available in MATLAB.
• The presentation of the spectrum in Chapter 3 has been expanded to include a formal
discussion of properties of the spectrum (e.g., time-delay, frequency shifting). This
sets the stage for later discussions of the DTFT and DFT.
• The material on Fourier Series which was part of Chapter 3 has been expanded, but
most of it is now placed in Appendix C. Chapter 3 contains a sufficient description
of the Fourier series to present the spectrum of one periodic signal, the full wave
rectified sine. Appendix C provides an in-depth presentation for instructors who
choose to emphasize the topic. Details of other periodic signals (square wave,
triangular wave, and half-wave rectified sine) are given along with a derivation
of Parseval’s theorem and a heuristic discussion of convergence. Properties of the
Fourier Series are also developed.
• Extensive changes have been made to the end-of-chapter problems. There are a
total of 241 problems in the book: 83 are new, 86 are different from the first edition
by virtue of changing the details, and 72 are the same as in the first edition.
PREFACE 19

• The Companion Website contains new material for labs, MATLAB visualizations,
and solved homework problems. The Companion Website may be found at
www.pearsonglobaleditions.com/McClellan.

At Georgia Tech, our sophomore-level, 3 credit course covers most of the content of
Chapters 2–10 in a format involving two one-hour lectures, one 1.5 hour recitation, and
one 1.5 hour laboratory period per week. As mentioned previously, we place considerable
emphasis on the lab because we believe that it is essential for motivating our students
to learn the mathematics of signal processing, and because it introduces our students to
the use of powerful software in engineering analysis and design. At Rose-Hulman, we
use DSP First in a freshman-level, 10-week course that covers Chapters 1–6, 9, and 10.
The Rose format is 3 one-hour lectures per week and one three-hour lab. The students
use MATLAB throughout the course. The entire content of the present text was used by
RWS for a 10-week, four credit course at Stanford University. Since this course followed
quarter-long courses in continuous-time signals and systems and linear circuits, it was
possible to skip Chapters 2 and 3 and move immediately into a focus on discrete-time
signals and systems using the remaining chapters. One credit was devoted to a weekly
lab assignment which was done individually without a regularly scheduled laboratory
period.
These examples from our own teaching experience show that the text and its associated
supporting materials can be used in many different ways depending on instructor
preference and number of course hours. As can be seen from the previous discussion,
the second edition of DSP First is not a conventional signals and systems book. One
difference is the inclusion of a significant amount of material on sinusoids and complex
phasor representations. In a traditional electrical engineering curriculum, these basic
notions are covered under the umbrella of linear circuits taken before studying signals
and systems. Indeed, our choice of title for this book and the first edition is designed
to emphasize this departure from tradition. An important point is that teaching signal
processing first also opens up new approaches to teaching linear circuits, since there is
much to build upon that will allow redirected emphasis in the circuits course.
A second difference from conventional signals and systems texts is that DSP First
emphasizes topics that rely on “frequency domain” concepts. This means that, in
an electrical engineering curriculum, topics like Laplace transforms, state space, and
feedback control, would have to be covered in later courses such as linear circuits or an
upper-level course on control systems. Although our text has clearly been shaped by a
specific point of view, this does not mean that it and the associated website can be used in
only one way. Indeed, as our own experience shows, by appropriate selection of topics,
our text can be used for either a one-quarter or one-semester signals and systems course
that emphasizes communications and signal processing applications from the frequency
domain point of view. For most electrical engineering curricula, the control-oriented
topics would be covered in another course.
In other disciplines such as computer science and computer engineering, DSP First
emphasizes those topics that are most relevant to computing for signal analysis. This is
20 PREFACE

also likely to be true in other engineering fields where data acquisition and frequency
domain analysis play an important role in modern engineering analysis and design.
This text and its Companion Website represents an untold amount of work by the
three authors, numerous colleagues, and many students. Fortunately, we have been able
to motivate a number of extremely talented students to contribute MATLAB demos to this
project. There are so many that to name them all would be impractical. We simply thank
them all for their valuable contributions to our project. Greg Krudysz who authored
several of the demos has now taken over the primary role of developing new demos
and visualizations with GUIs and updating the existing ones. Since the beginning in
1993, many professors have participated in the sophomore course ECE-2025 (and now
ECE-2026) at Georgia Tech as lecturers and recitation instructors. Once again, naming
all the recitation instructors would be impractical, but their comments and feedback have
given life to the course as it evolved during the past 12 years. For example, Pamela
Bhatti developed a laboratory on simulating the filter bank of a Cochlear Implant hearing
system. Recently, the lecturing and administration of the course has been shared by
Russ Mersereau, Fred Juang, Chin Lee, Elliot Moore, Mark Clements, Chris Rozell,
G. K. Chang, David Taylor, David Anderson, John Barry, Doug Williams, and Aaron
Lanterman. We are indebted to them for their many suggestions that have made a positive
impact on this second edition, especially the new material on the DFT and DTFT. We
are also indebted to Wayne Padgett and Bruce Black, who have taught ECE-380 at
Rose-Hulman and have contributed many good ideas, and we appreciate the work of
Ed Doering who created a whole new set of labs for ECE-180, the new freshman-level
DSP First. These labs start with traditional audio processing and end with video object
tracking. A new first for freshman.
We also want to acknowledge the contributions of Tom Robbins (formerly at Pearson
Prentice-Hall) who was an early supporter of our efforts to bring DSP to the fore in
ECE education. Tom bought into our concept of DSP First from the beginning, and he
encouraged us during the initial project, as well as the 2003 book. More recently, Andrew
Gilfillan and Julie Bai have been the editors who helped make this second edition a reality.
Finally, we want to recognize the understanding and support of our wives (Carolyn
McClellan, Dorothy Schafer, and Sarah Yoder). Carolyn’s photo of the cat Kilby appears
in Chapter 1. They have patiently supported us as this multi-year project continued to
consume energy and time that might have been spent with them.

JHMc
RWS
MAY

Pearson would like to thank and acknowledge Ankita Pramanik, Indian Institute of
Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, and Sanjay H.S., M.S. Ramaiah Institute
of Technology, for contributing to the Global Edition, and Chih-Wei Liu, National Chiao
Tung University, Siddhartha Bhattacharya, RCC Institute of Information Technology, and
NeerajVarshney, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, for reviewing the Global Edition.
 C H A P T E R

Introduction

This is a book about signals and systems. In this age of multimedia gaming computers,
audio and video entertainment systems, and smartphones, it is almost certain that you,
the reader of this text, have formed some impression of the meaning of the terms signal
and system, and you probably use the terms often in daily conversation.
It is likely that your usage and understanding of the terms are correct within some
rather broad definitions. For example, you may think of a signal as “something” that
carries information. Usually, that something is a pattern of variations of a physical quantity
that can be manipulated, stored, or transmitted by physical processes. Examples include
speech signals, audio signals, video or image signals, biomedical signals, radar signals,
and seismic signals, to name just a few. An important point is that signals can take many
equivalent forms or representations. For example, a speech signal is produced as an
acoustic signal, but it can be converted to an electrical signal by a microphone, and then
to a string of numbers as in digital audio recording.
The term system may be somewhat more ambiguous and subject to interpretation.
For example, we often use “system” to refer to a large organization that administers
or implements some process, such as the “Social Security system” or the “airline
transportation system.” However, we are interested in a much narrower definition that is
very closely linked to signals. More specifically, a system, for our purposes, is something
that can manipulate, change, record, or transmit signals. For example, a DVD recording

21
22 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

stores or represents a movie or a music signal as a sequence of numbers. A DVD player is

a system for converting the numbers stored on the disc (i.e., the numerical representation
of the signal) to a video and/or acoustic signal. In general, systems operate on signals to
produce new signals or new signal representations.
Our goal in this text is to develop a framework wherein it is possible to make
precise statements about both signals and systems. Specifically, we want to show that
mathematics is an appropriate language for describing and understanding signals and
systems. We also want to show that the representation of signals and systems by
mathematical equations allows us to understand how signals and systems interact and
how we can design and implement systems that achieve a prescribed purpose.

1-1 Mathematical Representation of Signals

Signals are patterns of variations that represent or encode information. Many signals
are naturally thought of as a pattern of variations in time. A familiar example is a speech
signal, which initially arises as a pattern of changing air pressure in the vocal tract.
This pattern, of course, evolves with time, creating what we often call a time waveform.
Figure 1-1 shows a plot of a recorded speech waveform. In this plot, the vertical axis
represents microphone voltage (proportional to air pressure), and the horizontal axis
represents time. Notice that there are four plots in the figure corresponding to four
contiguous time segments of the speech waveform. The second plot is a continuation of the
first, and so on, with each graph corresponding to a time interval of 50 milliseconds (ms).

0
Starting Time of Each Strip (ms)

50

100

Figure 1-1 Strip plot of a speech signal

150 where each row is a continuation of the row
above. This signal s(t) can be represented as
a function of a single (time) variable. The
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 shaded region is shown in more detail in
Offset Time t (ms) Fig. 1-2.
1-1 MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION OF SIGNALS 23

The speech signal in Fig. 1-1 is an example of a one-dimensional continuous-

time signal. Such signals can be represented mathematically as a function of a single
independent variable, which is normally called time and denoted t. Although in this
particular case we cannot write a simple equation that describes the graph of Fig. 1-1 in
terms of familiar mathematical functions, we can nevertheless associate a function s(t)
with the graph. Indeed, the graph itself can be taken as a definition of the function that
assigns a number s(t) to each instant of time (each value of t).
Many, if not most, signals originate as continuous-time signals. However, for reasons
that will become increasingly obvious as we progress through this text, it is often desirable
to obtain a discrete-time representation of a signal. This can be done by sampling a
continuous-time signal at isolated, equally spaced points in time. The result is a sequence
of numbers that can be represented as a function of an index variable that takes on only
integer values. This can be represented mathematically as s[n] = s(nTs ), where n is an
integer (i.e., {. . . , −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, . . . }), and Ts is the sampling period. Note that our
convention is to use parentheses ( ) to enclose the independent variable of a continuous-
variable function such as s(t), and square brackets [ ] to enclose the independent variable
of a discrete-variable function, e.g., the sequence s[n]. Sampling is, of course, exactly
what we do when we plot values of a function on graph paper or on a computer screen.
We cannot evaluate the function at every possible value of a continuous variable, but
only at a set of discrete points. Intuitively, we know that the closer the spacing in time
of the points, the more the sequence retains the shape of the original continuous-variable
function. Figure 1-2 shows an example of a short segment of a discrete-time signal that
was derived by sampling the speech waveform of Fig. 1-1 with a sampling period of
Ts = 1/8 ms. In this case, the dots show the sample values for the sequence s[n].
While many signals can be thought of as evolving patterns in time, many other signals
are not time-varying patterns. For example, an image formed by focusing light through a
lens is a spatial pattern, and thus is appropriately represented mathematically as a function
of two spatial variables. Such a signal would be considered, in general, as a function of
two independent variables [i.e., a picture might be denoted p(x, y)]. A photograph is
another example, such as the gray-scale image shown in Fig. 1-3. In this case, the value
p(x0 , y0 ) represents the shade of gray at position (x0 , y0 ) in the image.
Images such as that in Fig. 1-3 are generally considered to be two-dimensional
continuous-variable signals, since we normally consider space to be a continuum.

Samples of a Speech Waveform: sŒn D s.nTs /

1

0 Figure 1-2 Discrete-time signal represented as

a one-dimensional sequence which is a
function of a discrete variable n. Signal
1
samples are taken from the shaded region of
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 Fig. 1-1. The continuous-time speech signal
Sample Index .n/ s(t) is shown in gray.
24 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Figure 1-3 Example of a signal that can be

represented by a function of two spatial variables.

However, sampling can likewise be used to obtain a discrete-variable two-dimensional

signal from a continuous-variable two-dimensional signal. In a digital camera, this
sampling is done by recording light values which have been focused on a sensor array
composed of millions of points, or mega-pixels. In a color camera, there would be three
separate arrays for RGB: red, green, and blue. A two-dimensional gray-scale image like
Fig. 1-3 would be represented by a two-dimensional discrete-variable sequence or an
array of numbers, and would be denoted p[m, n] = p(mx , ny ), where both m and n
would take on only integer values, and x and y are the horizontal and vertical sampling
periods, respectively.
Two-dimensional functions are appropriate mathematical representations of still
images that do not change with time; on the other hand, videos are time-varying images
that would require a third independent variable for time, so a video signal would be
denoted v(x, y, t). In analog television, time is discrete (30 frames/s), each horizontal
line (x) is continuous, but there are a finite number of horizontal lines, so y is discrete.
In present day digital video, all three variables of the video signal v(x, y, t) are discrete
since the signal is a sequence of discrete images.
Our purpose in this section has been to introduce the idea that signals can be
represented by mathematical functions. Although we will soon see that many familiar
functions are quite valuable in the study of signals and systems, we have not even
attempted to demonstrate that fact. Our sole concern is to make the connection between
functions and signals, and, at this point, functions simply serve as abstract symbols for
signals. Thus, for example, now we can refer to “the speech signal s(t)” or “the sampled
image p[m, n].” Although this may not seem highly significant, we will see in the next
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
glass and blue as a turquoise. The sand along the beach, snow
white.
It was a Saturday, and we had a forty-eight, which took us ashore
at ten in the morning. Didn't want to miss no time on land. The day
was so fine that we decided to foot it into town. Everything was
green and growing and smelled good. We took our time and ambled
into Nice long about chow. The minute we hit that port I knew for
sure something was up.
Oh, don't think there hadn't been war talk flying about. Sure there
had, but, except for a general uneasiness, you wouldn't know
nothing was doing. The Frenchies are like that—they don't hunt
trouble, but when it comes—oh, boy! They sure are right there!
We seen little groups of folks standing talking together. The shop
keepers had left their shops, and joined the crowds on the street.
They was waving their hands—they are great on that—everyone
speaking at once. We come up close and listened. What we heard
certainly made our ears ring!
War! France was going to declare war on Germany! Queer how
that black cloud seemed to change the whole complexion of that
little sun-soaked town. I'd never seen the natives look like that
before. There was a little old woman who kept a fruit stand—figs
and peaches and what-not. She always had a grin for us fellows
when we passed. She and her granddaughter. The granddaughter
was a pretty girl—her cheeks was as red as the side of the peaches
and she had black eyes and hair. They was always ready to swap a
"bon jour" with us—but not today. The old lady was minding the
stand alone. She looked kind of white—no smile—no wave of her
hand. She told me her granddaughter had gone to the square where
the bulletins was being posted. We beat it over.
It was about three; no, I guess it was four, before the big crowds
began to gather in the square. Up to that time there had been little
groups drifting here and there, but by four the wagons had stopped
at the corners, their drivers had climbed down from the seats and
pushed their way into the mob, and the tram-car conductors and
motormen just left their cars wherever they happened to shut off
power, and shoved their way in for a view of the bulletins.
I tell you, that little town was at fever heat! Excitement! Say,
nothing beats a Frenchie at that! I've seen a lot of things in my time,
but it certainly gave me a queer feeling in the pit of my stomach to
realize just what those bulletins meant. It kind of got you to see that
little pleasure city so dead serious all at once.
Everyone in Nice was in that crowd—rich man, poor man, beggar
man, thief. The ladies from the Riviera, in their silks and satins—the
tradespeople—the poor—all fighting for a view of the words flashed
on the boards.
Someone yelled, "Vive la France! Vive la France!" and a thousand
voices caught it up until it rose and swelled like the roar of the
combers in a storm.
We had seen Nice quiet and peaceful and pretty—we saw a
different Nice from that moment. They didn't waste no time. They
began calling in the reserves. Do you know how they done it? Why,
they'd simply gather them up as they went along the street. From
buildings and shops and hotels and huts they poured—boys for the
most part—some pulling on a coat and buttoning it as they ran, and
women following them, always women—sweethearts and mothers—
looking puzzled and dazed by it all, but never holding the boys back
—not they!
I never seen fellows mustered in that quick. The streets were
choked with men—sharp orders rang out, and the blare of trumpets
and rolling of drums. Say, I had to pinch myself to be sure I wasn't
dreaming it! You read about such things, but you never expect to
see them with your own two eyes!
Some few men had uniforms or parts of uniforms. Some carried
old swords their fathers had fought with before them. Some of them
sang as they marched to their barracks, arm in arm. Some broke
away and ran ahead, calling to a pal, stopping to speak with an old
friend. And always, lined up on either side of the street, was the
raving, crazy mob that cheered them, flinging up their hats and
waving handkerchiefs.
Outside the cafés, at the little tables, wine was flowing like water.
One glass after another flung down with a toast to France. They
didn't stop at that. I seen a little girl spring up on a table and hold
her glass high; all the folks at nearby tables jumped to their feet,
cheering her. I couldn't hear what she said, but suddenly she
straightened up and began singing the "Marseillaise." Lord! The
whole town caught up the tune—it came from everywhere. Women
in open windows above the street, leaning way out over the sills,
sang it; children in the street piped up; there wasn't no one too
young or too old to join in.
The boys marching by grinned at her as they shouted it, and she
waved to them.
At a crossing I caught sight of our little old woman. She was
shelling out all the fruit on her stand to the boys as they passed.
The tears was rolling down her cheeks, but she smiled at them just
the same.
I didn't see her granddaughter until some time later; then I found
her with a fellow who was dragging on his uniform coat and talking
to her at the same time. She helped him fasten it, her eyes on his
face. I never seen anyone look so hard at a man—as if she could eat
him up with her eyes. When he left her she stood staring after him. I
wormed my way in through the crowd until I got alongside of her
and I took her arm, but she didn't seem to know I was there.
Bulletins was flashed every few minutes. No sooner would one
get posted up than they would tear it down to make room for
another. Above the roar of voices rang out the call to arms, and
always from no place in particular men and men and men came
pouring, keen to get into the Big Scrap.
You couldn't take a train if you wanted to. Everything was
commandeered for the "military," as they call it over there.
The sun went down and the street lamps began to wink at you
and still the excitement raged. Bulletins—crowds—trumpets—voices
—soldiers arriving from Monte Carlo and a new set of cheers for
them. No sleep for nobody, just moving through the packed streets
listening to a snatch of conversation here and a snatch there.
And every passenger coach and freight train jammed with soldiers
on their way to the concentration camp. Those who had any, wore
the old French uniform—you know, the red pants and blue coats—
great colors, but say, what cruel targets for Boche bullets they
turned out to be!
Next day the cry went up for horses—they needed horses, and
they got them. That's the Frenchies' spirit for you. Nothing is too
much to do for their beloved country. Every farmer with a four-
legged animal drove into Nice and gave him up gladly, and what's
more brought in all his garden produce for the boys.
It was like a horse mart. I never seen so many sweating, rearing,
stamping brutes. One farmer drove in a little blind mare he'd raised
from a colt. Rummiest horse I ever seen. Wind-broke, with a coat
that looked like the moths got into it. The old man seemed pretty
fond of her, for he talked to her considerable before he parted from
her. He didn't pay no attention to the crowd looking on, only he just
kept whispering in her ear and stroking her nose. After a while he
turned her over to the officer in charge.
"I have explained to my friend that she must fight for France and
she has said in that case she is willing to go," he told them in
French. They took her, too, and he hiked back a dozen miles or so
without another word.
 Once on the ship again, we laid in the harbor at Villefranche for a
week, but from the deck you could see the little seaport town and
that line of men that wound over the hill—tramping—tramping
toward the sunset—thousands of them—an endless stream.
We went to Gibralter. Just to let you know how particular them
British ships had become let me tell you that they halted us at sea
one night and made us run up our colors. They weren't taking no
chances.
We laid there another week—no liberty—nothing. We knew then
we was in the War Zone. The gates were down and only the French
and English allowed in. You couldn't even coal your ship, and what
was more, we were in direct line of fire from the British guns behind
us. We heaved a sigh as we started down to Tangiers, Morocco.
Some contrast! No excitement—no faintest hint of a war. Just a
dirty Arab town with streets so narrow your shoulders graze the
walls on either side. Dirt and flies and beggars.
We was burning up for news—we went crazy tied up there a
month. Then we went home and learned what was happening. We
heard about Verdun and the Kaiser promising to make Paris by
Christmas and all such rot.
Folks asked us what we thought of the war. I used to say, "If you
want to know my opinion, I think the sooner we lend those
Frenchies a hand the better!" and that's just what we're doing—at
last!
You get so you love them if you stay around them awhile. They're
so happy and cheerful, but when there's business to be done you
can't put nothing over on them! I won't never forget that old fellow
and his blind mare. Gee! How he did hate to part from her! But that
didn't stop him from doing it. But then that's Frenchies for you—
nothing is too much. . . !
COMMANDER WOODMAN SPEAKS:

"General Byng"—Friend and mascot of the U.S.S.

"Recruit."
 THE STUFF HEROES ARE MADE OF
HONOR MEDAL FOR U. S. SAILOR

FIRST AWARD GOES TO OHIO MAN WHO

SAVED
BALLOON PILOT

Washington, Nov. 12.—The first naval medal

of honor awarded during the present war was
announced by Secretary Daniels to-day as the
reward of Dennis O'Hara, who rescued the pilot
of a kite balloon which was struck by a squall in
the submarine zone.
The balloon was being used for observation
purposes by a United States cruiser. The pilot
was saved by O'Hara from the submerged
basket of the balloon.
When is a hero not a hero? Do you know, if there is any one thing
this war has proved to all of us, it is the fact that every man jack of
us has a large and totally unsuspected slice of courage tucked away
within him somewhere. We never used to think so. We used to
suppose that the ability to be brave in the face of death was a great
gift granted only to a chosen few.
Do you remember wondering how such heroes came to be born
as the men of the "Light Brigade," who rode without a quiver
straight into the jaws of hell? We read in our history books of Perry
and Farragut, or we heard the veterans of the battles of Lake Erie
and Mobile Bay tell the stirring tales. I used to suspect that these
men, whose names went ringing down the halls of time, were of
different stuff somehow—a sort of super-caliber—I never thought to
see the day when the greatest deeds of fearlessness, of self-
sacrifice, would be performed on the field of honor by the butchers
and bakers and candlestick-makers of this country.
Take a clerk who has toiled at his desk for ten long years. He is
afraid of death because he has time to be, but close up his books
and dry his pen and let him join the army or navy—build him up—
make his white blood red and send him on a destroyer or order him
over the top—afraid of death! not much he isn't!—too intent on
launching a depth charge or sniping a Hun to think about it.
Besides, once you get used to the idea that every minute may be
your last you don't seem to mind it. You rather relax and you don't
worry; you obey orders and stand by—and you are determined to be
as game as the next fellow when the Great Call comes.
Heroism is a large word for all this. It is just a part of the day's
work. That's what I like best about the youngsters in this war who
have done deeds of bravery that can stand up beside any acts
performed in the days gone by. They are indignant if you praise
them. Yes, they are. They tell you impatiently that what they have
done anyone else would do. Perhaps it is true. I guess so. But you
have to let it go at that. They won't stand your making much of
them. Not by a long shot.
Take the case of the boy on our ship. He was a capable chap,
who went about his duties without attracting a bit of attention. Just
one of those splendid cogs in the war machine—a Chief Petty Officer,
who wasn't looking for glory or honor medals, but was just doing his
job to the best of his ability.
Our trip over had been without thrills, unless you work up one on
your own by wondering how it happens with the number of ships at
sea minus a light there are so very few collisions. That always
interested me. I remember one black night when we were shipping
seas over the fo'ca'sle that were sending sprays to the bridge. The
darkness hung about us like a velvet curtain. As far as we knew we
were the one and only bark afloat on the whole Atlantic, and yet
when dawn broke, we sighted a convoy going east. If it hadn't been
for pure Yankee luck she might have been in the same latitude as we
were. Had the meeting come a few hours earlier or our course been
a trifle different the results might never have been told.
But that is side-stepping my story, isn't it? We had an observation
balloon attached to our ship, which we flew with considerable
success during the first part of the voyage. We were nearing the
point where we expected to join the vessels sent out from France to
meet us, and as the captain wanted the balloon to be aloft that
morning, she was sent up a good bit earlier than usual.
It was a squally, rainy morning—the sort you expect in the North
Atlantic. The sea was rough, and I suppose we were making about
thirteen and a half knots. There was considerable wind on our
starboard bow.
In the balloon basket was a young officer. He understood
managing the big bag, so we sent him up about a thousand feet. We
passed through a rain squall and the balloon rode that tip-top. He
telephoned to the officers below that he'd like to stay up for a while
as the wind seemed to be dropping.
About a half-hour later we entered another rain squall. It was a
nipping cold one—far colder than the first. The combination of
chilled rain and strong wind was too much for the balloon. First thing
we knew the bag had crumpled up like a crushed-in derby. And,
before you could say "Jack Robinson," down she flashed like a shot,
her buoyancy gone, and the little basket suspended about fifty feet
below her, riding the crest of the big waves like a tub.
Inside the basket, busy as the busiest bee that ever came out of
a hive, was that young officer, throwing out ballast as fast as the
good Lord and his right arm would let him.
It had the desired effect. Up rose the balloon, until it climbed to
about five hundred feet, but with its ballast gone it was like a kite
without a tail—a wild balloon at the mercy of the wind. That was a
sight you did not soon forget! All hands were on deck staring up
with bated breath—a few tried to shout advice, but the gale
drowned out their voices and the boy in the basket was far too busy
hanging on for his life to heed us.
The facts of the case were that he was virtually a prisoner, with
the ropes so twisted about the basket, as it swung on high in its
fantastic dance of death, that he could not have saved himself if he
would. We didn't get onto that at first. We rather expected to see
him shoot like a projectile through the air. It certainly seemed to us
that he must be the one exception to the law of gravitation, for by
all rights he should have been hurled earthward at least a hundred
times by that careening, dipping kite. And as it swung and lunged
and turned over on itself in wild contortions it reminded me of a mad
beast tugging frantically at its leash to be free.
There was only one chance of saving him and that chance was a
small one against the almost certain sacrifice of many lives. To stop
the ship was the one chance, but a ship with engines dead in the
war zone is a first-class target for the subs, and I can tell you that
any man with the responsibility of hundreds of lives on his shoulders
is loathe to give the order. But the sight of that pitching, rearing
devil, with its fragile cargo—one human life—was a sight no man
could well resist, and the captain finally gave the order to slow
down.
We went aft. The balloon hung over our port quarter, and, as we
drew it toward the ship, we got hold of a trailing line from the nose
of the bag. The big kite came docilely enough, as though it were
tired of the game it had been playing and was sorry for the damage
it had done. But the basket, with the man inside, was in the water,
half submerged and in great danger of going down before help could
possibly reach him.
Now here is where the hero part of the story comes in. It was so
quietly done that we did not know, until we saw a man flash over
the side of the ship and down one of the basket lines, that a rescue
was being attempted.
The ship still had headway and the sea was running high, neither
of which argued well for any chap trying to save a human being
caught fast in a maze of rope.
The basket was three-quarters submerged. The boy inside was
played out and could offer no help, but the C. P. O., clinging fast to
his bobbing goal, went to work with his knife and a singleness of
purpose that no mere raging sea could shake. He hacked away at
the imprisoning ropes, his teeth clenched, and at last crawled into
the basket and got a bowline under the officer's shoulders. We
hoisted him aboard, and while we were doing it, the C. P. O.
clambered up to the rail, where eager hands drew him over.
But he did not want our praise. It embarrassed him. What he
wanted most of all was to get into dry clothes and to go about his
duties. Hero! He grinned at the word. Just the same, that is what he
was—a real American boy with steady nerves and quick eye and
plenty of pluck. Oh, yes, there are lots of heroes at large these days,
but they do hate like the very dickens to have you call them that to
their face.
CHIEF YEOMAN LANG
SPEAKS:
 DEPTH BOMBS AND DESTROYERS
Eight years is a long time in the service. But it pays. Yep. Even if I
never draw a commission I'll get a pension of one-third my full pay
after another eight years, and if I stay in for thirty years, all told, I'll
pull down over a hundred dollars a month for the rest of my days—
me—just a chief yeoman. Now, that's not bad, is it?
I've seen quite some service. You know about that little party at
Vera Cruz last year? I was right there in the front row. I've always
been ready for a scrap provided they gave me destroyer duty.
Nothing else goes with me. Once you get used to the feel of that
rolling deck under your feet you can't be happy on any other bark
afloat!
There is nothing speedier or lighter on the high seas. She will ride
the waves like a bottle that's corked up. Not following the trough of
the swell like a man o' war, but bobbing right over the white caps or
burying her nose deep in the water as she cuts through.
. . . And spray! Say! If it wasn't for the shield around the fo'c'stle-
gun, you'd swim to Europe. As it is the combers sweep the deck in
rough weather like a young Niagara. High boots help you some, but
the only way to guarantee keeping a good man aboard is to lash him
to the gun.
There is a temporary shelter for the gun crew in the pilot house,
but say, when the waves get too sassy the gunners aren't ashamed
to rig up a line which they hold on to pretty tight let me tell you, as
they stand by.
Greatest sport in the world to have an ice-cold spray breaking
over your deck. Yes, and freezing so hard you have to take a hatchet
and chop it. You never are entirely dry, and you're never sure each
minute won't be your last. But, say, you wouldn't change places with
a commander on the biggest warship afloat!
Queer, how you come to love the bobbing little devil. I guess it's
human nature. The more cantankerous a proposition is the more you
like to handle it. And salt water doesn't hurt you any. Good for you.
Don't they give you salt baths and charge you a stiff price? Well, we
get the treatment free. Pretty soft, I call it.
We had a great crew. I was chief yeoman, with a job of clerk, and
in time of action I had to work the range-finder. I was pretty busy,
but I did have time to ring in a few laughs at the ship's pet. He was
a Swede—Ole Hjalmar, and big! Say, he was eight feet high—or,
anyway, six-two, with a voice like a bull. He was mostly ears, and he
had blond hair and high cheek bones. His face was red from the high
winds. It browns mine, but it made him look like a ripe tomato.
He hated his pink cheeks. We used to guy him about them, but
most of all we made fun of the big gold rings in his ears, and say, I
don't think there was a square inch of him that wasn't tattooed—
stars and pigs and anchors and eagles all over him!
Education didn't bother him any. The only writing he did in the
twenty years' service was to sign his name to his pay checks. But he
was always ready with a laugh. He was boatswain's mate and his job
was official scrubwoman and then when an officer gave command
he had to pass the word.
I remember one day we were expecting to make port that
afternoon. It was wash-day and as we changed our course it
happened that the clothes we had hung out in the sun to dry found
themselves in the shade. Our bags were still wet, so Ole was told to
pass the word to the men to shift their clothes to the other side of
the ship.
"Aye, aye, sir," boomed Ole's big bass,—then he gave the
command.
 "All you men who iss got clothes ver de sun isn't iss, put 'em ver
de sun iss iss. . . ."
Say, that got us! and Ole never did hear the end of "ver de sun
iss iss." That was all right, as it turned out, but next time—well, this
is what happened.

"Boresighting"—a 3-inch gun on board a merchant ship.

We anchored in an English port and like every good "bloomin'

bloody Yank," as our British cousins call us, we got out our bats and
balls ready to play United States baseball. We had four cracking
good teams on the ship. The first and fourth would play, then the
second and third. The competition was pretty close and we were
tickled to death when the American Consul got a tract of land for us
and we went ashore to show those Johnnies a regular game, after
watching cricket for an hour or two.
Well, after several days of games, some of the men began
abusing their shore privileges, and the officers knocked it off and
kept us aboard—no liberty at all!
Gee, we certainly longed to get off the boat. There was land only
a hand's throw away—and there was a whole diamond going to
waste and games tied. One afternoon, after talking the matter over,
we plucked up courage and drew lots. It fell on me to go up to the
Officer of the Deck and ask for a Recreation Party.
I did.
He didn't waste any breath at all. "No," he said, so I slunk back to
my mates. But we didn't let the matter rest. Every ten minutes
another one of us would march up with the same request. The O. D.
got sore. Ole was on watch.
"Pass the word," the O. D. commanded crisply, "No Recreation
Party whatsoever!"
Ole did.
"No Recreation Party what's er matter?" he hollered.
That finished him. He lost a rank on account of it. Poor Ole, he
got in dutch for fair!
We were convoying merchant and troop ships, going out to meet
them and bringing them back to port. We started out one cold
October day with a raging gale blowing. The sea was like a seething
caldron—the waves were mountain high. We had on all the warm
things we owned, but, at that, we were ice wherever the water
struck us.
I was muffled to the eyes. Esquimos had nothing on me and I
could see we were in for some stiff duty. It wasn't a matter of one
day—it was a matter of eight days on a raging sea—no chance to
take off your socks even—life-preservers on every minute of the time
—watching out sharp for Fritz.
 A flock of us met the ships we were to bring in and we started to
steam back to our base, when we had the shock of our lives!
It was early morning, barely light. The sky was a gray line, as if
you took a paint brush and slapped a streak from east to west. The
water was gray and we men on the bridge rubbed our eyes, for right
in front of us, not five hundred away—standing out black against the
sky—was a German submarine.
We figured she had laid there all night—and was going to send
our flagship to the bottom if she could—but she couldn't have looked
over her shoulder, because she didn't seem to know we were there.
Well, we were after her like a streak of greased lightning. That
was just what we had been praying for; as we charged her we fired;
we were almost on top of her, trying to ram her, when she
submerged; we passed right over her as she went down; you could
see the bubbles and spray.
Then we launched our depth charges—"ash cans," as we call
them. They look like a ten-gallon drum. You set them off when you
are traveling full speed right above your blooming submarine—
fifteen knots we were making.
Quick! Say, it's the speediest work in the world, because, once
your charges are dropped, you have to beat it or get blown up
yourself—as it is you can feel the explosion for yards around. Well,
we dropped four—and got out of the way. As for the sub . . . zowy!
Up she came to the surface, ripped wide open. Then she stood up
on her end and sank as if somebody had pulled her down by the tail.
One man of the German crew floated out of her before she sank
for all time, and Ole, before we could stop him, had lashed a rope
around himself and was overboard hauling him in. The German was
dead, so he couldn't give us any information. Worse luck! But we
didn't let that make us feel blue. I tell you we were a pretty pleased
bunch. You feel good all over when you get a German sub. They are
so blamed much like a crook waiting in a dark alley to stab a man in
the back. Yon owe it to society to knock him out good and proper.
Yep, great crew ours. Some say destroyer duty takes nerve, but
the reason I like it is that you don't feel like sleeping on your job;
you're just too blamed afraid you'll miss the thrill of your life if you
do. It's a great life! Take it from me!
HOSPITAL APPRENTICE DUDLEY
SPEAKS:
 IN TRAINING
I didn't know what I wanted to enlist in—I didn't care. All I
thought about was that war was declared. That set my New England
blood boiling, I suppose, and I didn't waste any time. I happened to
be in Baltimore. I scooted down to a recruiting station and joined
the Navy.
They asked me what branch of service I wanted to go in for. I
said I didn't give a hang just so long as I'd get a chance to go across
and do a thing or two to the Huns. They chose the Hospital Corps
for me. It sounded all right. I didn't dream of the hard work I was
letting myself in for.
After I'd left the station I called up mother on long distance. She
was visiting in Connecticut. I told her I had joined. She said she
knew I would and that she was glad I had not waited a day. That's
mother all over for you. I think every ancestor she ever had fought
in some war or other. No slackers in this family!
It was April. I had on an unlined suit and a light cravenette when
three hundred of us left Baltimore at eleven next day. We were
going to Newport. At five that afternoon we took the Fall River line.
It was pretty chilly then. I kept wondering why the dickens I hadn't
brought along an overcoat—but you didn't speak about being cold,
although I'll bet three-fourths of the men on that boat were
chattering. We were in the navy now—fine sailors we'd make if we
complained about a chill!
We arrived in Newport between four and five in the morning, and
anchored until daybreak. I thought it would never come. The sky
was grayish. I hadn't slept all night and I was beginning to wish
we'd get somewhere where I could turn in for a good rest,—but no
such luck.
 A petty officer met us at the steamer pier, taking us over in a little
government boat to Coaster Island. We landed at the Government
Pier and there we lined up. There was a queer old tub anchored
nearby. I asked someone what it was, and he told me that I was
gazing upon the old frigate Constellation, which fought in the war of
1812 and is now used as a signal school. She certainly looked out of
date. I wondered if our snappy sub chasers would look as clumsy as
that in another hundred years.
We marched to the receiving building and stood around on the
outside. I didn't know a soul there, but three of us were Hospital
Corps, and we sort of stuck together. The rest were a mixture. There
were "sparks" that's what they call the radio wireless men; and
electricians; and there were "chips"—that's carpenters—and there
were some of the "black gang," which are what the firemen are
called, unless it's "coalheavers." As for us, we were the "iodine
crew." It's a good name, all right.
Each draft was called in in turn. A C.P.O. would come to the door
and bawl, "All right, all New York draft in," and they'd waltz in while
we waited and wondered how soon before we could sleep.
After a while they called Baltimore, and we went inside, turned
over our papers, and were sent to an adjoining room to receive the
Navy hair-cut.
Say, talk about speed! Liberty motors have got nothing on those
four barbers. You no sooner sat down than—snip-snip-snip—and
—"Next!" Then you signed your name, but what the barber wanted
with all our autographs I never have been able to make out. Perhaps
he figures some of us may become great heroes and he'll sell the
signatures for a young fortune some day.
In the adjoining room we removed our clothes so that they could
be disinfected and sent home. Then we took a shower. At times the
water was very warm, then suddenly it would get cold as ice. They
certainly believed in variety being the spice of life.
 We were vaccinated next, a long line of us. And some were so
scared they just curled up and fainted. But I got through and went
in for my medical exam. If you don't pass it right there you are
rejected, but if you only have depressed arches, or, say, stooping
shoulders, they let you through. They know navy life will fix that O.
K. Just do setting up exercises for a few months and you'll gain a
ton!
Then we were measured for our uniforms and they were handed
out to us: two suits of winter underwear, two pair of woollen socks,
a navy sweater, a blue dress uniform and two white undress
uniforms, shoes, hairbrush, clothes, "kiyi," which, in plain English, is
a clothes brush, shoe cleaning gear, needle and thread and thimble,
six pocket handkerchiefs, a neckerchief, a pocket knife, two white
hats, a watch cap and a flat hat. Then you get your bedding: a
mattress, two pair of blankets, your hammock and your duffle-bag.
Believe me, the mattress looked good to me. I could see myself
drifting off into slumber in a gently swaying hammock. . . .
They marched us to a Detention Barracks. You are not supposed
to leave there until you get permission, in case someone breaks out
with smallpox or yellow fever.
Everything was complete in the barracks. Meals were cooked in a
regular galley; there were showers, mess room and sleeping rooms.
Very nifty!
A little, fat C.P.O. with a bald head came in and instructed us how
to clue our hammocks. It didn't seem hard. We were pretty proud of
the job—all twenty of us.
By that time we could have eaten whale oil with a relish, and a
squad of four went for chow, while the other fellows pitched in and
laid out the mess gear. That navy stew certainly smelled good! The
squad dished us out big portions of it and that, with hot coffee,
made us feel like new men.
 After we had finished four men washed up the mess gear and the
rest of us turned to and swept down the room. The little C.P.O.
bounced in again and fixed up our watch for us—two fellows on
guard, each standing two hours. The Chief posted the first
watchman, and taps began blowing as we started in stringing our
hammocks.
It was great sport. Everyone had a theory about it, but we were
told that, whatever we did, we must get the hammocks straight,
because a sagging hammock is death on the back.
At nine, to the dot, lights were out. It was pitch black in our
room. Somewhere outside one feeble standing light flickered, but
inside, nothing doing.
Remember, these hammocks are about seven feet above ground
—say, the fun started right there. How to get up in them was some
problem. Each man thought of a way of doing it, and, in the first
rush, one or two made it, but the rest of us only got a leg up and
swung there before dropping back to earth.
Everyone was hollering suggestions and trying to get a grip on
the blamed things. It wouldn't have been so hard if the hammocks
hadn't moved—but they almost acted as though they had sense—
hanged if they didn't. They'd bob this way and that, and the moment
you got up—well——
After three or four attempts I made it. I got in all right, but,
before I could settle down, over it turned with me—spilling out
everything I owned, me included. I scrambled around picking up
what I could in the dark, and what I said wouldn't be passed by the
Board of Censors.
I piled the things in again and crawled back—pretty cautious this
time. I rolled up my clothes for a pillow and lay on my back, gripping
both sides of my little old bed. That's the way I slept—or rather
didn't sleep. All through the night there were thump-thumps, as
someone fell out and hit the deck.
 When I heard reveille next morning I was so stiff I could scarcely
move a muscle. I wasn't the only one though. We looked at each
other and wondered if ever under the blue sky we would get the
hang of sleeping in something that turned over every time you
hitched a bit.
We cleaned up the quarters and spread our blankets and
mattresses to air. It was bitter cold. We huddled close to the steam
pipes and certainly tackled the chow for all it was worth when it
appeared about six A. M.
After breakfast we lashed our hammocks, and I told mine a thing
or two as I tied it up. Then we listened to the C.P.O. giving us our
first talk on regulations. We wondered if we'd ever remember half
the things he was telling us.
As soon as he was out of sight, in trotted the ship's tailor with a
portable sewing machine. Funny little man, so intent on his tiny task
of sewing little strips of white cloth inside our clothes for marking. I
suppose he felt as important in his way as the Navigator.
Somebody passed out stencils with our names on them, and the
C.P.O., rather out of breath from scooting all over the station,
dropped in long enough to tell us how to mark our clothes—then he
was off on the wing. Busiest man I ever saw. I bet he lost ten
pounds a morning. Well, he could afford to.
We were dying for lunch. You are always ready to eat in the navy,
and the food is great. Lots of it, too. A new bunch of men had
arrived—we felt like veterans as we gave them a hand at cluing their
hammocks—and say, advice! We told them all there was to know
about climbing into your swinging bed.
That night, when I crawled in, I found I could manage much
better. I was dead to the world, and I slept the sleep of the just.
Nothing short of reveille or an earthquake could have made me open
an eye.
 Next morning
we parted from
our room-mates.
In peace times you
are supposed to
spend twenty-one
days in detention.
This was war, so
we had spent
three. We were to
be shipped
straight off to our
respective division
stations.
We Hospital
Corps men
reported to the
head doctor and
were assigned to
classrooms. It
seemed queer to
be going to class
again, after you'd
been out making
your living for a
few years in A sniff of "chow."
business, but we
got used to it. The
lecture was on regulations, then they marched us over to Barracks B,
our new home. We three from Baltimore stuck together. We were all
assigned to quarters on the second deck—it's really the second floor,
but you don't call them that in the navy.
It was a big place, but with a hundred and fifty men in it there
was scarcely room to turn around—packed like sardines. We found a
tiny space up by a window and put up our hammocks. Supper was in
the mess hall, then back we'd go to school for a lecture; after that
you could study or write letters until nine o'clock and taps.
We were up at five every morning, chow at six-thirty, mustered at
seven-fifteen, and marched down to school in time to clean the
lecture rooms inside and outside. Spick and span is the watchword
of the navy. You get so you wonder how you ever lived inside of a
house that didn't shine from top to bottom.
We didn't have to know much to pass exams—oh, no! Only
Anatomy and Physiology, and First Aid, and Minor Surgery, and
Operating Room Technique, and Nursing, and Hospital Management,
and Pharmacy, and Materia Medica, and Toxicologies, and Chemistry,
and Litter Drill, besides a little "lab" work in the compounding of
medicines. Oh, no—anyone could learn that with one eye shut!
I stayed in Barracks B for three weeks, then the government sent
down some big circus tents holding about one hundred and fifty, and
we pitched them. We slept on cots for a change. Queer how we had
to get used to them. Hanged if we didn't long for our hammocks.
I remember one night when we had a bear of a storm—a regular
gale—and sure enough the old tent began to leak. I happened to be
on watch so I spent about two hours going around keeping a sharp
lookout for leaks—there were plenty of them. As wet a crowd of
boys as I ever saw came forth, and I sent them to the lecture rooms
to sleep. Funniest looking gang, sleepy and cross, their blankets
around their shoulders dripping water. They made a run for the
deck.
About twelve I woke my relief and started to turn in. There was
no leak over my bed and I was half undressed when something
rolled down my back. I beat it for the school. Not ten minutes later
the whole tent collapsed, with thirty men in it. Rescue parties were
formed, and the men inside needed it—a small Niagara had swept in
on top of them.
 But no one seemed any the worse for it. We were a hardened lot
by that time. I thought of the day I had left Baltimore and the way I
had shivered with the cold—here I was, only a few weeks later, only
half dressed, drenched to the skin and not minding it a bit. The
training had done wonders for me.
Next day a pile of lumber arrived—we carried it from the wharf to
the Barracks and we were informed that after school we would find
nails—plenty of them—one saw and one hammer for two hundred
men to lay the floor, upright and erect tents before taps. Say, that
was a staggerer! But orders were orders and we fell to. What did we
do? Why, we got rocks or pipes or anything you could use for a
hammer and with two hundred huskies working at top speed just to
show the C.O. that they can do a thing once they make up their
mind to it, we got those tents up that night right as a top!
Luckily for me, my site was 'way up on Strawberry Hill, back of
the hospital, and with the crackingest view of Narragansett Bay—and
a distant glimpse of the Atlantic. It was a wonderful life up there.
We'd become so used to outdoors that we used to talk about how
strange it would feel to live in four walls again. We took everything
as it came and enjoyed it. The government certainly did all in its
power to make things comfortable. We used to wonder how the Sam
Hill all the busy people up in Washington could keep every one of us
in mind and see that we were all supplied. It is a queer feeling—that
sensation that you don't have to worry about to-morrow or what it
will bring, that you are clothed and fed and housed—and that your
only problems are the ones that may come with the rising sun. Great
life!
Other camps were all around us. The Yeoman's camp, the
Seamen's camp—nothing but bluejackets from morning until night.
We wondered if the whole U. S. Navy were there—it didn't seem as
if there could be any more sailors in the world.
The Hospital Corps didn't have much drilling to do, just squad
movements and litter drills and counter-marching. We used to
parade through Newport to boom recruiting, and on Saturday the
whole school turned out for Captain's inspection on the green in
front of the War College.
There was so much to learn that we spent most of our liberties in
the study hall, but once in a while we would drop in at the Army-
Navy Y. M., or go down to beaches for a swim, or take in a show.
At the end of three months we were through a course that takes,
as a rule, eight months. Then I went to the Naval Hospital and there
I made my rate. Gee, but I'm glad I'm going over at last. There's a
girl down in Baltimore—I've promised her some souvenirs. Some of
the fellows have been back and forth eight times without a glimpse
of a submarine—but I hope we see one. I'd like to tell it what I think
of it.
Yes, we're leaving pretty soon now. I'll tell you all about it when I
get back.
CHIEF PETTY OFFICER BERTRAM
SPEAKS:
 ZEPS AND TORPEDOES
I joined the navy because I felt patriotic and all the rest of it. You
couldn't help it down home. Everybody was doing it. My brother-in-
law made the yeomanry, my chum went in for hospital corps work.
Wherever you turned you found fellows discussing their branch of
service and swearing it was the best in the pack. It didn't take me
long to make up my mind. I sure was crazy to get "over there."
It's the English in me, I guess. Yes, I've got quite a slice. Before
the war I was thirty-third in direct line for the title of Earl of
Northumberland. Now I am about seventeenth.
It's queer how much I wanted to go to London. I just itched to.
My family had come from Nova Scotia to Louisiana and settled there.
That's where I was born—Johnny Rebs, you know. But that's ancient
history—just plain all-round American now.
I never had a chance to forget the English part of me, though. I
couldn't very well. You see the solicitors send me a notice every now
and then telling me how good my chances are of inheriting a thirty-
three-million dollar estate and a couple of dozen titles on the side.
Well, I don't care what I shipped on so long as it had a prow and
a stern and kept afloat. They held me three months in the naval
station waiting for a ship, and at last I got one—and what a one! An
old oil tank! Ever see an oil collier? It resembles one of the countries
of Europe. Which one? Greece.
Grease everywhere. You eat grease and you drink grease and you
sleep grease and you breathe grease. You never get it off your
hands or your clothes or your disposition until you land.
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