The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1859-12-07
Tho West Point Cadetship,

We receive so many letters from young
lads making inquiries respecting the mode
of gaining admission to the Military Acad-
eny at West Point, that We conclude there
is very general desire among the youth of
the United States to figure in the character
Of bold soldier boy
1t may be servicable to these aspiring
youths to be informed that the famous in.
stitution on the classic heights of the Hud.
son is not the paradise which some of them
seem to fancy it. 1t is q blending of school
and camp, with the rigors of both. The
cadets are pupils and soldiers, and have Sc
we're duties to perform in both capacities;
which duties, IS they are paid for perform
ing them, the government is bound to exact
and does exact
The hcnors Of the Academy are chiefly
bestowed for superiority in mathematics,
the ordinary drill, which is so severe that
frequently fourth Of the entering class il
| counted OUT at the end of the first ses-
sion. The fare is opposite of luxurious,
and hepay-somethingl less than thirty dol
| lars month-barely covers the unavoida-
ble expenses. In addition to camping out
during the summer, and rising before the
sun at all seasons, and performing outdoor
drill and sentry duty in all weathers and
temperatures, the cadets have occasionally
the pleasure of being startled from theft
sleep in the middle of the night by the roll
| Of the drum, and tumbling out Of led and
mastering, fully equipped, in three minutes.
After five years Of such life as this, those
of the cadets who have not given out un.
der it are rewarded with commissions in
the army, and sent to some post pleasantly
situated OH the outskirts of civilization, five
hundred miles from drawing-room. There
| they pass the weary days waiting for the
arrival of the monthly mail, and calculating
| the chances Of promotion, and enduring the
horrors Of idleness without the alienation
| of society. If posted nearer home, they
are tormentcd with the sight Of happy
homes, without being able to indulge the
hope Of possessing one. They find the
| girls willing enough to hirt with handsome
uniform, but by no means disposed to brave
the wilderness upon sixty-eight dollars
month.
Flirting with uniform is one thing, mar.
rying poor lieutenant is another The
girls, nowadays, with all their fondncss
tor romance, are gifted with a slight sense
| of arithmetic. And by the time our gay
soldier has attained the rank of major OF
lieutenant-colonel, he is venerable, gray
headed gentleman Of sixty, with two or
three well defined rheumatisms in each
limb.
These coveted cadetships, moreover, like
kissing, 60 by favor. A youth may possess
every quality requisite for soldier, but if
nature has sternly denied him an influential
uncle, or father capable of controlling
elections, or brother-in-law in high Office,
he need not attempt to get an appointment
to the Military Academy. twill be mere
waste of time. The thing is utterly out Of
the question. For every vacancy there are
are at least forty applicants, and the man
who has the most influence with the ap-
pointing power invariably gets it. This
ought not to be so. The cadetships ought
to be open to the competition Of every youth
in the country, and the vacancies filled with
those spplicants who, after fair examina.
ton, promise to make the best soldiers. At
some future day this will certainly be the
mode Of bestowing the cadetships. When
the psople Of the United States take the
trouble to demand that their government,
in all its departments, shall be administered
for the benefit Of the whole, instead of
class, many things will be done in manner
entirely different from that now in vogue
Till that happy day arrives, let no young
man, unprovided with the indispensable
uncle, parent or brother-in-law, bother his
head and lose his time in inquiring the road
that leads to the West Point Military Acad.
envy. He won't find it. And if he did, he
wouldn't be likely to like it.-N r Ledger.
In FERN.ALLY PoINrED.-Fanny Fern, in
the New York Ledger, thus dt scribes an
''innocent creature Of fashionable life:
'She is very petite, holds her head on
one side, and peeps out of her eyes squirrel
fashion. She approaches you with : hop.
skip and jump, which shs imasinas i'm:
mensely fascinating, and giggles out silly
laugh which she fancies is musical. When
company is in the parlor, she runs across
the room, stopping in the middle Of it, with
her finger on her lip, "a favorite attitude,)
as if she were trying to remember some
thing, then she tosses back her head, smiles
deprecatingly at herself, scuttles back to an
ottoman, with the hand her bracelet is upon
uppermost on her lap, and relapses into
pretty little reverie. Delicious, small lamb