The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-12-04
West.POinterS.

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carry an ordinary trumpet.
West. Pointers.
80! but 1 say. this is a beastly grind,
you know" -t-.. 4l.-.
This is brief but correct summary
of the impression made upon the mind
of my friend, clergyman of the church
of England, whom / had brought to
West Point for the purpose of showing
him how we Americans train a corps Of
army officers.
To him the idea of men being con-
fined SO closely to routine work as to
allow but bare half hour of each day
for recreation was a bare monstrosity.
But do you mean to say that these
cadets have no sportP'
" No; no organized sport, correspond
ing to boating, foot ball, or baseball at
colleges" 80
-"Well," said the Englishman, grave
ly, "our English cadets would think
themselves hardly used if they were de-
barred their regular sport every day,
and think that here in the army you
would find more pleasure in your life,
enjoy the army better, If a liberal dose
of recreation were trown into your ca
det course"
1t is the gravest charge of an En-
glishman against US that we confine our
lives too much to sedentary occupa-
tions. At the English universities an
Englishman expects four hours day
for active recreation; at the big English
public schools every boy must go in for
some of the many sports or be voted a
"muff." English gentlemen will ride
their horses ten miles into London every
morning for exercise, and out again at
night. The close of business is the sig
nal for innumerable clerks to rush to the
cricket-field in the suburbs for a game.
Parliament adjourns for the Derby, and
my English clerical friend told me that
one of Che most wholesome sights in the
worldIo him was to see the dean of
Jesus College at the boat-race running
along the tow-path, as for his life, and
shouting: "Go it, Jesusp' to the best
Of his ability. The explanation lay in
the fact that thirty years before he was
the stroke of the Jesus boat.
At an American college you will find
perhaps one man in ten who takes sys-
tematic exercise, and 1 fear am say
ing too much when say that. At
Yale. where boating enthusiasm can
certainly be said to exist, besides half a
dosen siX-oared crews who train for
races, there are scarcely fifteen stu
dents, probably, who row regularly out
of ten hundred and thirty men between
the ages of sixteen and twenty-five
years. Take base ball, foot ball, horse
back riding, or walking, and there is q
still greater falling off. The reason is
that. where in England the heads of
the faculty understand the value of
strong physical frame to a man start
ing in LIE, and foster manly sports as
natural recreation, with us the fact
that a man tries to exercise is looked
upon as something out of the ordinary
run, and consequently reprehensible.
If man with US gets low in his stand
ing, the cause is Immediately sought in
athletic pursuits. He is warned to give
up boating, base ball, or whatever
other recreation he may seek for his
health. To see a tutor rowing a shell
would excite wonder at an American
college, and recently when a priest of
the English church took off his I" CLOTH"
rolled up his sleeves, and beat the West
Point officers at lawn tennis, on their
own ground and with their own rack
cts, you may imagine their amazement
and delight. The thought of it is in
strong contrast to the American par
son, whose most worldly occupation is
driving buggy six miles to the hour!
But to return to West Point: Para.
doxical as it sounds, it Is absolutely
necessary that the cadets should have
exercise that forhids them having any
recreation time. They rise at six
O'Clock, breakfast, look over their les
sons, and are occupied from eight to
one o'clock with drill or recitation.
They dine and recite until four o'clock;
they then get ready for the afternoon
drill from 4:30 to $50 o'clock, and then
they have just time to get ready for
parade, which takes place about six p.
m. now. Immediately after parade
they are drummed off to supper, and
only after supper do they have an exact
half hour absolutely to themselves.
Then the drum beats again, and they
retire to their rooms and study until
taps at $50 o'clock, when they turn
out the gas and take their only real rec
reation of the day. They cannot
smoke out of their rooms. In strolling
about the grounds you never meet those
cosy groups under the trees that lend
such q charm to undergraduate life at
Harvard and Yale. No strolls with
friends, no entertaining chats arm in
arm that do so much to cement friend
ships, no evenings over pipe or bowl
with round of song. None of these.
Instead we have precise action, turn
on the heel that suggests machine at
the waist, an erect carriage and a mil
itary bearing carried even into the rec
itation-room.
A West Point recitation, by the way,
is something unique. When a visitor
makes his appearance every cadet rises
and " fronts" and you feel as you did
when you entered your first freshman
society, where the walls were lined
with your tender initiators. This Sc
we're military carriage is relaxed at a
sign from the instructor, and the reci-
tation goes on.
The Teaching is undoubtedly the most
thorough in the country, if not in the
world. The reason will probably be
found in the fact that not only are the
cadets held to strict accountability for
the work they go over, but in addition
to that the assistant instructors are also
strictly responsible to the professors in
charge of their department. Thus
Professor of Mathematics will have one
hours instruction with his class during
the forenoon, and the remainder of the
time he devotes to inspecting the work
OF his assistant professors who are in
structing other sections in the same
subject. AS there are only nine men in