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Show LIFE AT WEST POIXT. The Dtacipline Through Which a Cadet Must Pass. Very few people who have never visited the. United States Military Academy hj.ve a correct idea of the actual life of a West Point cadet. It is anything but a life of ease and pleasure, but four years of hard, earnest work such as few lads have the physical endurance to undergo. In the first place a boy must pass an examination examina-tion to get in fully as hard as the examination ex-amination for admission to the Hartford High 8chool, and once in he is ruled with an iron rod of discipline. The greater part of the winter his barracks are little less confining than a prison, and his sole recreations are the -daily drills. In the summer time books are thrown aside for two months and the cadets go into camp on the plain, but they are confined to prescribed limits, always under the eyes of watchful officers. Midway in the course, at the end of the first two years, the,cadet is permitted to leave the pbst on an eight weeks' furlough. There has always been more or less carping criticism at the manner of conducting con-ducting entrance examinations.some. people peo-ple claiming that boys from the country towns did not have " a fair chance, and that, army officers' sons were shown favoritism. . There certainly are a great many boys rejected in proportion to the number admitted, but the academic board passes on an applicant's papers as designated des-ignated by a" certain number; his name and personality are known only to the adjutant, whb" has no casting vote. A professor might reject hia own nephew and not know it. Most .. applicants fail through not knowing what special studies to perfect themselves in. The law on the subject is simple enough, but it is elastic, and .its severity greatly increased by the regulations of the academy. It is sheer waste of time for a boy to come here who has not thoroughly: mastered the elements ele-ments of the three Rs and who does not know something about the history and geography, of his own country. Apropos of the number of failures the critical gentlemen who sit in judgment here find that boys are not so wel 1 prepared pre-pared under the common school system of to-day as they were in the private schools of twenty-five years ago. One of the. oldest and most experienced members mem-bers "of the academic board (now retired) admitted in conversation the other day that he had found this to be the fact, "and." he added, "the much-boasted schools in a largo part of New England form no exception to the rule. ' ' But even if an applicant possesses all tho mental accomplishments he must be stron physically. An experienced surgical board will find the unsound spots in him, if he has any, and send him home by the first boat. It is really painful to sec the disappointment and despair on the faces of some of the lads who come here every day only to have their dearest hopes ruthlessly ruth-lessly broken, and the irates barred at the entrance of a long road, but the only one leading to their highest ambition. Besides those who fall at the outset, there are many who start with a fair prospect of success, and at the first or second semiannual semi-annual examinations are "found," as the cadets say (meaning found deficient), and are compelled to pack up their trunks and leave. Some lads don't mind it, but others never get over, tho disappoint-I disappoint-I ment. Probably no school or college in the country is eo fair an axample of democratic demo-cratic representation as the West Point Militarv Academy: Out of nearly 300 cadets the majority are the sons of comparatively com-paratively poor parents; but whether rich or poor, educated or uncultured, influential in-fluential or obscure, the boys get precisely pre-cisely the same impartial treatment when once they have Dassed the necessary examination ex-amination and don the cadet uniform. Their antecedents are lost sight oi. All share the same privileges, the same hardships, hard-ships, the same restrictions. Pride and conceit, intensified by the coddling ol fond parents, are knocked out of a lad in a twinkling. Prompt obedience is one ot ! the first things required. ; Commands are I given in quick, sharp tones,, which the cadets soon grow accustomed to,, but 1 which would sound harsh enough to bring j tears to the eyes of a Hartford High i School bov. i The moral training that the boys get ! cannot be too highly estimated. Truth ! telling in an inherent quality in a cadet, ! at lealt so far as his soldierly duties ar ! concerned. - So much confidence is placed i in the word of a cadet by a commandant I that a mere denial of an alleged offense -i is.' sufficient. The boy must and does speak the truth making u i. j sn of a fault if he is gmlty. r If he does not do so, he knows hat his comrades ! are in duty bound td tell on him if .ques-. j tloned, and will purely do so, no matter 1 ' y : i how disagreeable tothe tiesofcompanion-J tiesofcompanion-J ship. A lie is an - almost unpardonable offense. The duties of the interior organization of thef battalion and - the j regulation of the barracks are so sub-j sub-j divided that habits of self-control, self- command, cleanliness and faultless order j come by intuition. Violation of rules j means loss of liberty, and perliaps expul- sion. I pick these samples of punishable complaints from a long list daily posted t in the guardhouse, where each cadet's j faults are blazoned to his fellows : Waist belt too loose. : Not properly shaved. Late at church roll call. I Shoes not properly cleaned, j Dirty gun at inspection. Very dirty collar at gunrd mounting. I Washbowl not clean . No white shirt on. j This is sufficient to show how closely the boys are watched. I cannot give a detailed account of the long and arduous ; course of study that is necessary to sue-cess. sue-cess. The first year the cadets are drilled I thoroughly in mathematics, to train the I mind to exact reason. The second year i their time is taken up principally by the j modern languages. The third year they i plunge into physics and philosophy, to j give them habits of close and accurate j observation. The fourth and last: year they must dive deep into law, ordnance j and gunnery and the art of war. In the different studies the marks indicate a I close range from perfect, through fair, in- different, poor, to complete failure. The regulations of the academy apportion the time of the cadet in such a way that each I task must be performed in specified hours, during which ho is wholly free I from interruption. Except on Satur- Iday afternoons a cadet sees very little of anybody else but his professors and classmates. |
