The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-02-17
YOUNG AMERICA AT WEST POINT.
A story of an Engine Nozzle.

A story of an Engine Nozzle.
The Army and Navy Journal publish
es from the "West Point Scrap-book,
now in the publishers hands, the fol
lowing amusing extract:
"Among the widest men in my clas
was Cadet C.. His propensities 70
deviltry were unparelled, as was ais
his good luck in never getting caugh
in any scrape. At the same time b.
was very studious; always IN the frs
section ) in everything; and when W
graduated he received commission IL
the Corps of Engineers.
"While we were second classmen,
and nearly crazed with 'azimuths' anC
lunar culminations, no wonder tina
we should have our 1ooney periods,
and many a night after taps did W,
rout out the officer in charge With on
disturbing forces
After puzzling our brains during
study hours in the evening, over ou
"phil lesson, some dozen of us would
casually meet on the porch af the bar
racks after taps, and endeavor calml,
to discuss some knotty question in thu
lesson but all In vain, for G., backed
by 'Dad," and three or four others
would suddenly send a ten-pin bal
taken from the bowling alley), bound
ing along the porch among us, at tn,
same time setting up tremendous yell
We could not doless than return tn,
ball, and the result would be regula,
"phil. riot, (which was only ended b.
the sudden appearance of the Office
in charge. Occasionally fora changeh
would fill "old Patrick's iron bucket:
with coal, and then gently roll then
down Theron stair case, making enough
noise to wake the "seven sleepers.
One night G. suggested that we should
all buckle on our sabres, letting then
bang down, and then dividing up into
parties of three or four, go quietly up
to the 4" cock-loft, 4" of the various div,
sions, and come tearing down the iron
staircases, our sabres clanking, and all
yelling at the top OF our voices.
''This succeeded beyond our widest
anticipations, for the party, of which
was one, had just rounded the staircase
on the second fight in the fourth di.
vision, when we ran into and almost
knocked down Colonel x, who was
making night inspection.
"We four received our merited share
of de-merit and 'extras,' but G.,
the prime mover in the affair, was not
caught.
''We never failed to awaken the off.
Ger in charge, and generally we were
successful in not getting 'hived.'
remember one night In October, 1865,
there was lunar eclipse about eleven
o'clock, and as we were all heavy on
lunar eclipses, we were in duty bound
to see the thing come of.
"Fun half of my class were out
quietly looking at the moon, when sud.
denly from the top and sides of the old
dial stone in the centre of the area,
there appeared one of the finest dis
plays of fireworks ever witnessed.
am of the opinion that 1 should have
enjoyed it more had it not been for the
frequent explosions, and the dropping
of bell-buttons among us. As usual
on all occasions of ceremony, the Off
Ger in charge put in an appearance,
and did not stay to see the result, but
learned afterwards that the display
was the combined efforts of G.,
dad, and Tip, who had made use Of
some powder cartridges that Dad had
hived at artillery drill, and had manu-
factured some diabolical composition,
using lot of bell-buttons filed with
powder for shells. 1t was 6
complete success, and no one
was caught. But all this has
nothing to do with the engine nozzle.
Yes, it has too; for these little pleas
antries were merely dvdnt couriers o.
the affair with the engine nozzle. Fol
about month we had been engaged
almost every night in some kind of dev
iltry, and it seemed as though we haC
made use of every expedient that it wa
possible to devise for the annoyance o
the officer in charge. 1t was a critica
moment. One night, as usual, abOu
twelve o'clock, we were 'owling' around
in drawers, slippers and dressing gowns
seriously meditating a night assault OF
the cadet officer of the day, when c.
suddenly suggested that we should
break into the engine house back of thu
guard room, and 'hive one of the noz
zles, and then blow the church call il
the sally-port. G. thought that j
might possibly inspire some of the pro
fessors' families with the idea that tn,
millennium had come, and that tn,
angel Gabriel was blowing his las
trump. 1t wasn't long before we haC
picked the lock, and found one of th'
nozzles belonging to the fire engine.
We fastened the door again, and pro
ceeded in body toward the sally port
There was quite discussion as to wht
knew the church call best; G. being
minister's son had the preference
The nozzle was too heavy for one :,
hold and blow at the same time so on,
of us, forget who, rested the nozzle
on his shoulder, and G. filed hi
lungs and begun.
ssGreat heavens what a solemn
sound and such an echol 1t wa
simply grand. G. tried it again
1t would have filed 'old Bentz with
envy, could he have heard those mourn
full strains.
son the principle that enough wa
as good as feast, and furthermor,
with an eye to using our improviseC
bugle again on the next propitiou
night, we refrained from any furthe
refrain, and slowly retired, hiding tn,
nozzle under pile of coal in one of tn
cellars.
"The next morning there was tn
tallest kind of row. The man VIII,
had charge of the engine house report
ed to the commandant that the engin
room had been broken into and one o
the nozzles stolen. 1t was of no us
to ask questions, or to hunt for it. n
one Enoa anything about it. We KEEP
low for two or three nights, until tn
row had blown over, when we went out
and G. blew the church-call agail
in the sally port, calmly and delibeI