Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-11-11
The West PoInt Cade,.biD.


We receive so many letters from young lads
making enquiries respecting the mode of gain.
ing admission to the Military Academy at West
Point, that we conclude there is a very general
desire among the youth of the United States to
figure in the character of a bold soldier boy.
1t may be servicea6le to these aspiring youths
to be informed, that the famous Institution on
the classic heights of the Hudson is not the
paradise which some of them seem to fancy it.
1t is blending of school and camp, with the
rigors of both. The cadets are pupils and sol.
diers, and have severe duties to perform in both
capacities; which duties, as they are paid for
performing them, the government is bound to
exact and does exact
The honors of the Academy are chiefly be-
slowed for superiority in mathematics, the or
binary drill in which is so severe that frequent.
| ly fourth of the entering class is tcounted
out" at the end of the first session. The fare is
opposite of luxurious, and the pay-something
less than thirty dollars month-barely covers
the unayolable expenses. In addition to camp
ing out during the summer, and rising before
the sun at all seasons, and performing outdoor
drill in all weathers and temperatures, the Gu
diets have occasionally the pleasure of being
startled from their sleep in the middle of the
night by the roll of the drum, AMI tumbling out
of bed and mastering, fully equipped, in three
minutes.
After Eve years of such life as this, those of
the cadets who have not given out under it are
rewarded with commissions in the army, and
sent to some post pleasantly situated on the out.
skirts of civilization, FIVE hundred miles from
the drawing-room. There they pass the weary
days waiting for the arrival of the monthly mail,
aud calculating the chances of promotion. and
enduring the horrors of idleness without the
alienation of society. If posted nearer home,
they are tormented with the sight of happy
homes without being able to indulge the hone
of possessing one. They find the girls willing
enough to fiirt with handsome uniform, but by
no means disposed to brave the wilderness upon
sixty-eight dollars month";
Flirting with uniform is one thing, marrv-
ing poor lieutenant is another The girls.
nowadays, with all their fondness for romance,
are gifted with a slight sense of arithmetic
And by the time our gay soldier has attained
the rank and pay of Major or Lieutenant. Colonel,
he is venerable, gray-headed old gentleman of
sixty, with two or three we'll defined rheuma-
tistns in each limb.
These coveted cadetships, moreover, like
kissing, go by favor. youth may possess
every quality requisite for q soldier, but if ma.
ture has sternly denied him an influential uncle,
or father, capable of controlling elections, or a
brother-in-law in high Office, he need not ats
tempt to get an appointment to the Military
Academy. 1t will be mere waste of time
The thing is utterly out of the question. For
every vacancy there are, at least, forty appli-
cants, and the man who has the most personal
influence with the appointing power invariably
gets it This ought not so to be- The cadet
ships ought to be open to the competition of
every youth in the country, and the vacancies
filled with those applicants who, after fair
examination, promise to make the best soldiers.
AT some future day this will certainly be the
mode of bestowing the cadetships When the
people of the United States take the trouble to
demand that their government, in all it's depart.
ments, shall be administered for the benefit of
the whole, instead of class, many things will
be done in manner very different from that
no young man, unproyideG with the indspen.
sable uncle, parent or brother-in.Iaw, bother his
head and lose his time in inquring the road
that leads to the West Point Military Academy.
He won't find it. And if he did, lie wouldn't
be likely to like it.-Bonner's Ledger.