Newspaper Page Text
WEST POINT LIFE,
ITouk years of rigid disci¬
pline FOR CADETS.
Tlie Pleb’g Year of Servitude and
Submission to Hazing—Pro¬
gramme of Dally Life
und Study.
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O place exists in tbe United
States the name of which is so
closely interwoven with the
history of the country as that
of West Point. It was a conspicuous
place in tho days of tho Revolutionary
struggle, when its topographical situa¬
tion made it desirable, and near and
about it were’ enacted some of the deeds
of heroism which will live to the credit
of the patriotic Continentals while the
annals of the Republic shall last. Its
situation on the Hudson, says theNew
York Tribune, is one of the beauty
spots of the country, and, while great
changes have been made near it since
the days of the Revolution and the re¬
lentless hand of nineteenth century
progress has transformed many dis¬
tricts near it into modern, prosaio
towns, West Point remains undefiled
and majestic as it left the hand of the
great Architect, and even the modern
buildings which have been erected on
the heights which overlook the river
and the proud monument whioh recalls
the names of departed heroes pale into
insignificance before the picture of
natural beauty which nothing can ob¬
literate while the Hudson winds be¬
neath the rooky oliffs and verdure and
sunlight add their colors to the scene.
But to the American West Point is
attractive beyond its association with
the days cf old and its natural beauty,
-Jjeeaufie from the academy which the
Government maintains upon the reser¬
vation came the men who wrote their
names in imperishable letters upon
the country’s history and repaid in
many instances with their life’s blood
tho benefits which they received there.
Tbe cadets come from all parts of
the country; they represent all
grades and classes of the community,
and there is probably no educational
institution on the continent in which
a man’s social, political or financial
standing would count for less than in
West Point, and where his advance¬
ment and final graduation would de¬
pend so thoroughly and exclusively
upon his own personal work. Oadets
are appointed by members of Congress
and by the President; and in recent
years it has been the custom to give
the places of principal and alternate
to the aspirants by competitive exam¬
ination. A candidate must be over
seventeen years old and under twen¬
ty-two. If he is under five feet in
height he is ineligible. He must be
perfectly formed and must be of
a “good moral” character. He
must be able to read and write
the English language correctly and to
perform, with facility and accuracy,
the various operations of the ground
rules of arithmetic, of reduction, of
.
Simple and compound proportion and
vulgar and decimal fractions, and
have a knowledge of English grammar,
of descriptive geography, particularly
of the United States and of the coun¬
try’s history. Tho regulations pro¬
vide: “No married person shall be
admitted as a candidate; and if any
candidate shall be married before
graduation such marriage shall be
considered as equivalent to a resigna¬
tion, and he shall leave the institution
accordingly.” After a boy has passed
the prescribed examination and has
been found qualified mentally, physi¬
cally and morally to become a cadet,
be must report on or before June 1-5
following the- examination to the
Superintendent of tho academy and
sign an agreement for service in the
following form:
, of the Slate of ,aged-
years,-months,, do hereby engage, with
the consent of my parents or guardian, that
from the date of my admission as a oadet of
the United States Military Academy I will
serve in the Army :of the United States lor
eight years,.unless sooner discharged by com¬
petent authority.
Tho cadet also subscribes to an oath
to support the Constitution of the
United States, and that he will bear
true allegiance to the National Gov¬
ernment.
The number of men in West Point
is comparatively small, about 300 in
all, and the new student becomes con¬
spicuous at once by the manner of his
carriage and his lack of military bear¬
ing. This is just as true of those who
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THE MESS HALL.
bad some experience in so-called mili¬
tary schools before they came to West
Point as of the boys who come fresh •
from their mother’s apron strings., The
“setting-up” is done by upper class
men, whose apparent severity has
caused many a young heart to beat
rapidly and whose shout of “What do
you mean by standing that way?” or
“You, I mean, you there,” or “Don’t
you know what your right foot is?”
bas caused a lump to rise in the throat
of many a new cadet who until that
moment fancied that he was letter per¬
fect and with points to spare.
The new man comes to the academy
at that time of the year when the hard
work for those who remain is over,
and camp life begins. Hard and exact¬
ing work has been tlie order of the
day; unceasing, tireless application to
the studies which extend over a wide
field has taken the time of the whole
year, and the student hails the advent
of June with joy, because it brings the
comp season and comparative rest. It
is particularly weloome to the men
who are just completing their
year, who will emerge from their pleb-
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THE BATTLE MONUMENT.
dom into full-fledged cadetship, who
will throw off the galling yoke of un-
derling, and will have a new lot of
plebs with whom to get even for
they themselves have endured. And
so, with every yearling standing in
wait for him, the cadet enters camp for
a season of about eleven weeks.
If his heart is not broken by the
upper class men while in camp, and if
tie passes the examination which fol-
lows a few months later, he becomes a
full-fledged cadet, with a prospect of
being graduated from the school in
fonr years. The camp trial is the
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ACADEMIC BUILDING AT WEST POINT.
most severe test, and iho man who
goes through the ordeal of the peculiar
hazing to which the pleb is subjected,
who can control himself sufficiently
to take it all in the proper spirit, who
can keep up with his studies in tho
mean time and acquire sufficient
rudimentary knowledge of military
matters to satisfy his inslructors,
shows himself well qualified for the
work which will follow and for the
positions of trust and responsibility
to which he may be called later.
It does not matter who the man is,
whether he is the son of a Senator,
a General, a diplomat, or a black¬
smith, whether rich or poor, ho is a
pleb with the plebs, and no power can
save him from making love to a broom¬
stick in the presence of a lot of upper
class men if they decide that he shall
do so, no influence can gain for him
the privilege of sitting in the presence
of sn upper class man unless that man
asks him to do so, and his ancestry,
station little or future prospects would avail
him if he failed to “sir” the
upper class man properly and respect¬
fully.
The pleb is rigidly excluded from
all the social functions, the little en¬
tertainments and jollifications, He
has no part in the joys and sorrows of
the older men, he can make no visits,
although he frequently receives such
and at hours when they are the least
expected. He is treated by men who
were possibly his friends a short time
before he came to tho Academy in a
manner which is worse than indiffer¬
ence, and many a poor fellow, think¬
ing it all over, and realizing that for
two years he must remain on the
reservation, with no hope for one
day’s vacation, has clenched his fists
in anger and consented to remain only
because the hardship of it all was
better than the brand of cowardice
with which he would be marked if he
left. When the man least expects it,
a number of upper class men may
come into his tent and sit down where
they can find a place. He must stand,
and then may come an order to tell a
story about his travels in India or Ice¬
land or New Jersey, to go through the
manual of arms with a lead pencil, to
stand on one foot while he names Ihe
principal rivers in South America or
tho capitals of the Territories in the
United States. Then there are cer¬
tain caliathenic exercises for which
the upper class men have a great liking
when they are performed by a pleb,
and men have been kept busy per¬
forming these exercises by their
tyrannizers until they were exhausted.
The new man worries along and
works and plods to keep up with the
required standard in mathematics,
English studies, French and military
discipline. He becomes a housekeeper,
also. He must learn to take care of
his room and his outfit. The rules
prescribe that he shall have two pairs
of uniform shoes, six pairs of white
gloves, two sets of white belts, eight
white shirts, two night shirts, twelve
-collars, eight pairs socks, eight pairs
summer drawers, eight pairs for win¬
ter, six handkerchiefs, six towels, one
clothes bag, made of ticking, one
clothes brush, one hair brush, one
tooth brush, one comb, one mattress,
one' pillow, two pillowcases, four
sheets two blankets, one quilted bed¬
cover, one chair, one tumbler, one
trunk, one account book and one
basin, die is commanded by regula¬
tion immediately after reveille to hang
up his extra clothing, to put such
articles in tho clothes bag as it is in¬
tended to contain, and to arrange his
bedding and all his other effects in the
I prescribed order. He may not, no-
cording to the regulation, keep in his
room any of the implements used in
eh -ss, backgammon or any other
game, and lie must obtain a permit
before any map, picture or piece of
writing can bo posted or attached in
any way to the walls of his room.
When camp season comes again
many of the plebs of the last camp
season have disappeared; some de¬
parted before the camp closed, others
could not stand tho strain of work
during tho winter months, some failed
to pass the January examinations, and,
with the others who fell by the way-
side, they went back to their homes,
smaller, possibly, than they were when
they received their appointment, and,
although in many instances it may
have taken argument to convince peo-
pie of the fact, ill-health is usually
given as the cause for a change in the
plans whioh had a generalship for
*their ^or object ^ only a few months before.
ose who have remained in the
institution a new era is about to be-
-gin. At the June exeroises the plebs
are allowed to make their debut.
Their bearing has become manly and
soldierly by that time, they have ao-
quired so much of the soldier in the
year past that they do not resemble
the boys of that time, and parents and
friends who oome to the Academy
hardly know them. They feel a pride
in the fact that they have lived
through their year of plebdom, and
no one greets them more heartily as
they enter the domain of the upper
class men than the yearlings who are
about to shake the dust of their con-
dition from their boots and enter the
more dignified sphere of second-class
men. With the graduation hop tho
pleb’s time of probation ceases. The
upper class man goes so far as to se¬
cure partners for him, and between
the smiles of pretty girls, the release
from thraldom, the consciousness of
haring won the respect of the older
men, and his anticipation of his good
time in camp with the new men, the
yearling’s cup of happiness is nearly
full.
But the hop lasts only a few hours,
the camp season soon ends, and then
begins the work again—harder than
the year before! and more of it. Not
only drill regulations, discipline and
all matters pertaining to the science of
war must be studied and mastered, but
higher mathematics, French and
Spanish and literature must be grapp]ed
with and they keep every moment of
the cadet’s time employed. It is ab¬
solutely impossible for a man to keep
up with his class unless he works
hard, and the class as a whole would
fall behind if the work were not con¬
tinuous.
To be convinced of the prime condi¬
tion of the cadets one must see them
at a meal in the large mess hall,known
as Grant Hall. The senior cadet cap¬
tain is superintendent of the hall, and
sits at a table facing the door sur¬
rounded by his staff. The cadets march
to the hall and are divided when they
reached there into squads correspond¬
ing to the tables in the mess hall.
Eaoh squad is accompanied by an offi¬
cer, who is responsible for the behavior
of the men at the table. It is a matter
of course that the man who carves, who
does all the work and who is served
last is a pleb. The hall is decorated
with the portraits of graduates who
have won fame since they left the in¬
stitution, and the pleb, looking upon
these pictures, may console himself
with the thought that the pictures
represent men who in their day had to
do what he was doing. A corps of men
is kept busy waiting upon the cadets,
whose appetites give proof of their fine
physical condition.
To be a cadet and a late riser is an
impossibility. The hours for daily
duty are laid down as follows : Reveille
at 5.30 a. m., and 6 a. m. on Sunday;
police call, five minutes after reveille;
surgeon’s call, fifteen minutes after
reveille; breakfast call, thirty min¬
utes after reveille.
After breakfast the cadets have a
few minutes in which to “brush up,”
and at 8 o’clock they are called to
quarters for study and recitation.
They have dinner at 1 o’clock. From
2 till 4 o’clock more study and recita.
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CHAPEL AT "WEST POINT.
tion, and then comes evening parade,
after which the battalion marches to
sapper. After supper they have
thirty minutes, and are then called to
quarters for study until 10 o’clock,
when “taps” is sounded, and the sig¬
nal for “lights out” finds the cadets
tired and ready for sleep.
On Wednesday and Saturday after¬
noons the oadets have no duties to
perform, and unless they have been
guilty of some slight infraction of the
rules they may take a rest. But a
peep into the courtyard of the bar¬
racks on these afternoons will con¬
vince the visitor that all oadets arc
not angels. While their companions
are at ease, those who have trans¬
gressed must pace up and down a oer-
tain part of the yard accoutred and
armed the same as a regular infantry¬
man on sentry duty, and if the gray
walla were transparent they would dis¬
close to view also some who must suf¬
fer for their misconduct by being con¬
fined to their rooms. The strictest
discipline, the severe course and the
high standard required are the causes
for depicting the rauks of the cadet
corps, and it is estimated that about
sixty per cent, of those who are fully
accepted as cadets drop out before
the lour years’ term is completed.
Those who romaiu and are gradu¬
ated receive a cash capital ol $192 to
start with. Out o' the $540 a year
which is placed to the credit of every
cadet $4 is taken every month and
kept for him, and at the end of his
term at West Point he reoeives it in a
lump sum. The purpose of the ar¬
rangement is to place the young officer
out of need and to enable him to buy
his officer’s outfit. The $540 a year
which a cadet receives from the Gov¬
ernment never reaches him in the
shape of money. His account is sim¬
ply credited with the amount, and
against this charges are made for his
clothing, books, board, laundry and
all incidental expenses, and the great
problem is how to keep out of debt.
To buy anything with money of his
own is an impossibility, because a
cadet is kept penniless, and one of the
regulations prescribes that no cadet
shall apply for or receive money or
any other supplies from his parents or
from any person whomsover without
permission of the Superintendent. the
The third and fourth years iu
academy are equally severe; but the
men who have outlived the hardships
of the preceding terms are likely to
survive and are finally graduated and
their names sent to the War Depart¬
ment, with the recommendation of
the Academic Board for commission in
the army.
KISSING THE BII5LE.
Books Which Lips of Presidents
Touched When Sworn In.
The Bible on which McKinley took
the oath of office as President of the
United States is an unusually hand¬
some and costly copy of the Testa¬
ments made especially for the occasion
in Ohio and presented to the new
President by Bishop Arnett, of Wil-
berforce College, a colored institution
in the Buckeye State, on behalf of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Its covers are of blue morocco with
satin linings, white satin panels and
gilt edges, with a gold plate in tde
center, and is engraved with the fol¬
lowing inscription: William McKin¬
ley, President of the United States of
America, Inaugnrated March 4, 1897.
The took on which he was sworn
in to the highest office within the gift
of the people was a matter of quite
decided sentiment with President
Cleveland. Mr. Cleveland asked the
privilege of being sworn on a little
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BIBLE ON WHICH m’KINLES TOOK THE OATH.
red Bible which bad been given to
him by his mother in his boyhood,
when he first left the family rooftree,
and he took the oath at the beginning
of both of his presidential terms on
this took, which he treasures fondly.
The custom, however, has been for
the United States Supr.em.3 Court to
furnish the Bible on which tho Presi¬
dent takes his official oath, and this
tradition has been carried out by the
clerk of the court ever since that tri¬
bunal was established, except on the
two occasions when President Cleve¬
land was installed in office. Mr. Mc¬
Kinney,. Clerk of the Supreme Court,
who has held the Bible on which Gar¬
field was sworn and every President
after him, has always marked the verse
which the President touched with his
lips, and after the inaugural has pre¬
sented the book made historic by this
event to the President or his wife.
The first inauguration of Georgo
Washington in the Federal building
in New York on April 30, 1789, was
delayed by the failure to procure a
Bible. Just as the arrival of Wash¬
ington was announced to Congress,
Chancellor Livingston discovered that
there was no Bible in tho building.
He was Master of St. John’s Lodge
No. 1 of Free Masons, and happened
to remember that there was a Bible in
the lodge room. A messenger was
quickly sent to bring the book, and it
is preserved to the present day among
the relics of the lodge.
The Sea Gulls.
The big sea gulls, such as are seen
about the harbor through the winter,
eome from further north in the fall,
and late in the spring they«go north
again, or far out to sea when the
weather is cooler and the fish upon
which the gulls feed are more abun¬
dant. There are many fishes that
seek deeper, cooler waters in the sum¬
mer, and the gulls follow them. There
are smaller gulls, however, commonly
called bluefish gulls, that remain out¬
side the harbor all summer.—New
York Sun.
CURIOUS FACTS.
Tho date, which has been success¬
fully cultivated in Arizona, needs lit¬
tle water, and will thrive where tho
cacti grow.
At a recent meeting of Montana
wool growers it was deoided to form a
stock oompany to sell their wool on
the co-operative plan.
The Chicago Historical Society has
becu enriched by the acquisition of
forty-six bound volumes of early Chi¬
cago newspapers, published between
1835 and 18G2.
The now naval barraolcs, which tho
British government is aliont to erect
at Portsmouth, will be tho biggest
thing of the kind in the empire. The
building alone is to oost $3,000,000.
There are forests of leafless trees in
gome parts of Australia. They re¬
spire, so to say, through a little stem,
apparently answering the purpose of
a leaf. The tree is known as “tho
leafless acacia.”
An Italian peddler from whom a
New York policeman demanded a
license, showed confidently a certifi¬
cate of discharge from Sing Sing
prison, which he said he bought, be¬
lieving it was a license.
A frog makes his home in the wheel
pit of the engine room at F. W.
Hunt’s tannery at Island Falls, Me.,
and comes up from below only before
a rain storm. He is honored as a pro¬
phet in the tanners’ country.
At an auction sale of postage stamps
in Chicago recently a reprint set of
thirteen United States stamps of the
1872 issue brought $130. Other sales
were: Baltimore local stamp, used be¬
fore the Government stamps were first
issued, $250; St. Louis green local
stamp, same price; St. Louis lilac
local stamp, also same price.
While the head of tho house was
sleeping with a gun under his pillow
at Mobile, Ala., and his family were
"Iso enjoying the sleep of the jnst,
burglars entered, cooked a meal in
the kitchen, and ate it in the dining¬
room, ransacked the house, took
everything portable of value, and es¬
caped without disturbing any one.
An interesting discovery has just
been made at Woking, England, by
some workmen engaged in excavating
earth for the purpose of laying out a
lawn tennis court. A brick kiln, be¬
tween six and seven feet in diameter,
was unearthed, and was found to con¬
tain several pieces of pottery which,
with the kiln, are believed to date
from the Roman peroid.
Kicked the Wrong Chap.
She is his “really” girl and lives in
Jefferson avenue. He called on a cer¬
tain forenoon to nrrange for a joint
social engagement. A January rain
was turued on by the weather depart¬
ment while he was there, and he felt
justified, m accepting an invitation to
lunch.
It so happened that she and her
father were running things on a sort
of catch-as-oatch-can system, while
the rest of the family were away for a
few days’ visit, and the larder was not
reliable as to needed supplies.
“Now, papa*” she said to him im¬
pressively, “these two pieces of pump¬
kin pie are all we have. I’ll not tako
any, and don’t you say anything more
after you and Charley hive each had
a piece. He’ll think the omission is
just carelessness on our part.”
But all of poor papa’s mental ener¬
gies were concentrated on a knotty
business proposition and he didn’t
know they had pie till it came time to
eat it.
“This is the only pio for winter
use,” he declared as his pieco rapidly
vanished. “You can have all your
pastries and knick-knacks, but give
me tbe good old pumpkin pie for cold
weather. You’ll have another piece,
young man. Plenty more where this
came from and you can’t eat enough
to hurt you.”
Charlie evidently started to accept,
but bis countenance suddenly changed
and he could not b8 induced to have
more. When he was gone she went
at the pater with flashing eyes:
“What did you mean, papa, insisting
as you did, after I told you that was
all the pie we had, and me kicking
you under the table as fast and hard
as I could?”
“Why, child, you weren’t kicking
me.”
Then she staggered to the lounge
and wailed for smelling salts.—De¬
troit Free Press.
Tile Papal Army,
The Pope’s army is divided into five
separate bodies—the Noble Guard, the
Swiss Guard, the Palatine Guard, tho
gendarmes and the fire brigade. The
Noble Guard is composed of fifty
young members of the Roman nobil¬
ity. The Swiss Guard is 100 strong,
and the men are selected for their
youth and strength. They guard the
doors and entrances of the Vatican.
The Palatine Guard is raised from
among the citizens of Rome, and is
only called out on special occasions.
Tho gendarmes number 100, and are
recruited from ex-soldiers of the
Italian army, specially recommended
by Italian bishops for their religious
fidelity and fervor. The firemen num¬
ber thirty, and are always in the Vati¬
can. The Pope’s army has its speoial
daily journal, the Fedelta Oattolica. —
New York Mail and Express.
A Dishonest Beadle.
British institutions have received a
severe shock by the conviction of a
beadle of the Bank of England of
larceny. He had been thirteen years
in the service of the bank, and was
employed regularly at the banquets of
the lord mayor and the city companies,
where he filched plate undetected.
Unfortunately he stooped to stealing
from the army and navy stores, when
be was caught, and the treasure of
plate he had collected during nine
years from sixteen companies was
disco veied.
HITS OF INFORMATION.
Bellows are used as a burglar alarm,
tho opening of the door closing the
bellows and forcing air through a pipe
to a whistle.
There is a tradition in the British
royal family that boys must wear High¬
land costume until the queen deems it
proper to order a change.
The late Miss Julia Cooper, of New
York, left $150,000 to the Cooper
Union—a sum which will enable the
institution to receive 200 more pupils.
Tho hundredth anniversary of the
birth of Rosmiii, the Italian philoso¬
pher, will be marked by the publica¬
tion this mouth of a new edition of his
works.
Dr. Nansen sold the old suit he wore
when he met Mr. Jackson in Fran
Jose Land, to Mme. Toussand for
$5,000, and it will take its place among
the wax works and other curiosities.
In parts of the west, where barbed
wire fences are universal, they have
been forced to do service as telephone
wires between different ranches. Farms
a mile apart have telephone communi¬
cation in this ivay.
Vindicating Her Idea.
The vindication of an idea is a great
thing.
One of the teachers in the public
school in Wells street was speaking to
another a few days ago of the careless¬
ness of pupils iu certain directions and
measures to be taken to cure them.
“Why,” she said, “on one of the
bitterest days of the early part of the
week a little boy came to school from
his home, nearly a mile away, without
an overcoat. The temperature had been
at nearly 30 degrees below zero, and
think of that child walking all that
distance in such weather! It was ter¬
rible. I don’t see liow he kept from
perishing. He said he had forgotten
to put it on.”
“Forgot to put it on!” said the
other. “Isn’t that silly! What did
you do about it?”
“I sent him right back home,” the
teacher answered, with the firm con¬
viction of one who has faced an emer¬
gency and has conquered.—Chicago
Record.
And the Debate Was Closed.
“Why do they say, ‘As smart as a
steel trap’?” asked the talkative board¬
er. I never could see anything par¬
ticularly intellectual about a steel
trap.”
“A steel trap is called smart,” ex¬
plained Mr. Asbury Peppers, in his
sweetest voice, “because it knows ex¬
actly the right time to shut up. ”
More might have been said, but, un¬
der the circumstances, it would have
seemed unfitting.—-Cincinnati En¬
quirer.
Convincing Evidence.
“Somebody told me that that young
man who was just introduced to us is
an actor,” remarked Maud.
“No,;’ replied Mamie, positively;
“I’m sure he is not.”
“He looks like one.”
“I don’t care. He isn’t.
“How doy ou know?”
“We were talking about the stage,
and he named as many as five or six
people whose acting he admired.—
Washington Star.
Persuaded.
On one occasion, when John Kem¬
ble played Hamlet in the country, the
gentleman who played Guildenstern
rather fancied himself as a musician.
Hamlet asks him: “Will you play
upon this pipe?”
“My lord, I cannot.”
“Well, if your lordship insists upon
it-”
And in the rage and confusion of
Hamlet and the great amusement of
the audience he tooted out: “Got Save
the King!” with variations.—Ex¬
change.
Legislature Goes to Church.
“There is another thing I wish to-
know,” remarked the snake editor to
the religious editor.
“Your thirst for knowledge is insa¬
tiable. Go on!”
“If the legislature gets into a very
spirited debate -while in its improvised
quarters, will it be called a church
fight?”—Pittsburg Chronicle-Tele-
graph.
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TONIC
IS JUST AS GOOD FOR ADULTS.
WARRANTED. PRICE SOcts.
Galatia, Ills., Nov. 16,1693.
Paris Medicine Co., 8t. Louis, Mo.
bousluthreVsross Gentlemen:—lnat^^ear,^600^bottleB or
already this year. In all our ex¬
perience of 11 years, lu the drug business, have
never sold an article that gave such universal satl*
faction as your Tonic. Tours truly,
Ahxb>-,Cah« *C9.