Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-06-16
WEST POINT.
Past and Present-The Gay Season
Among the Highlands.


Correspondence of the New York Herald.
WEST Po1Nr, June, 1S72.-The memory
of the Oldest inhabitant of West Point now
in the land of the living runneth not back
70 the time when the 'season" in these
parts was 50 backward liz coming forward
as it is this year. The why and the wherefore
are questions which are sorely puzzling the
minds of every man, woman and child
for miles around, who is in any way de-
pendent upon the friTOlities and extraVagan-
cies of the annual occasion for the where
witbal 10 keep body and soul together. In
deed. there are those of a bilious turn OF
sentiment who roll up the whites OF their
ewes and cross their arms piously over their
bosoms. and declare from their heart of
hearts that the reason of the present dearth
Of all that in years gone by was wont to
make this delightful retreat from metrOpoh-
tan hustle aud confusion
A HEAVEN ON EARTH
Is owing entirely, exclusively and villain
ousIv to the horrible fact that the Academy
Is not what it used to be in the days when
Southern chivalry flourished in the land,
and when the daughters of the sunny
South frolicked about, the mistresses OF all
they surveyed, and poured cut their dol
lars, won by the sweat OF their beloved
slaves, as freely and lavishly as though the
DAYS Of chivalry were never TO end! tyou
run down into the little village,
a mile below the post, and ask why the
season lsgs Of the milliners, the dress-mak-
ers, the shop-keepers, the stable cultlVators
and the hundred and one other people who
settled hereabouts years upon years ago,
and to whom the West Point season was
always a golden gOdsend-looked forward
Fifrao Trifh hat
that a dependant always looks up to the one
whose favors give him life-they will one
and all give YOU the same mOurnful reply.
They will drag you metaphOrically back TO
the DAYS when Lee was the WOrshiDped su-
Oeriptendent and Beauregard the idol Of the
cadet corps, and the cadet corps the idol Of
the Southern bellies; and they will tell you
how they Jared then and how they do not
fare now; how the war has brought about
AN AWFUL CHANGE
for West Point and turned the Academy
into a resort for an entirely different class
of visitors than once upon time made II
the great summer abiding place Of the cream
lest cream of polite society. With tears in
their ewes they will bewah the absence OF
the extrayagances Of those golden days
when the Northern cadets were not even
thouoht of. because they were not OF the
same blue blood ilk as their fre-eating
chums from beyond the dividing line, and
when the vile Innovations inaugurated by
Northern rule were not even dreamed o.
in the philosophy of the most liberal
Southern visitor. To these and all Othel
of the neighbors of West Point
the situation of the Academy has, it must
be confessed, always been looked upon as
something Providential in the matter Of
bread and butter, and it is not to be won
dered at that, now that they do not fare as
well from the unavoidable concomltants
of the fashionable season as once they did,
they should purse up their hungry mouths
and malieiOusly grUmble because the SUI
does not shine night and day, so that the.
can make hay at all hours. Still do no
think that they are altogether wrong II
their reckoning as to what, IN the Gay
that are past, gave TO West Point that t0
and exclusive elegance that made it q pertec
purgatOTy for
ANY ORDINARY INDIVIDUAL
who was not born with silver spoon j
his mouth, or who could not count Shout
der strap AMONG the hdirlooms Of his family
1t is now uuquesiOnably as attractive re
sort. as far as nature can make it so, as
ever was. The same grand mountains SUI
round it upon every side, the same gres
river flows as msjestically and winds, as
old, about the rugged rocks upon which
is perched, the hotels are as well kept 9
ever. and the same magnificent magnu
cence0 Of views exists to-day as when u
oldest officer nov IN the army was cade
y and, perhaps, like Shakespeare lover, con
posed sonnets to the eyelashes of bis LAD
love. And yet why do we not have
THE ANCIENT GALA DAYS
IN all the freshness and brilliancy OF u
plst2 Why is it that whare, at the "opeL
ings," the crowds were wont TO be so gre.
of the regular seasoners that 'translenI
was in daily risk Of being compelled to
whence he came, unfed and unc3red 70
there is ample rooms for all corners, with
welcome so warm that it betokens no
t-uIv ,'evsry miclIle makes muckle7"