The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-11-21
CADETS AND
An old Girls shrewd Observations on
the Way They Have in the Army.

From the New York Sun.
It was one of Sidney Smiths's notions
that girls ought to have military dolls
to play with, just as they have hobby
horses to ride, to inure them to the sight
of the live article without becoming de-
moralized, But the appetite for the
military grows by what it feeds on, and
a girl who has once taken a turn at a
Irritation with a West Point cadet is
like a tiger who has got a taste of blood.
They are past help then. The infection
is deadly and ineradicable they seldom
stop short of marrying a Second Lieu
tenant and going out to Puget Sound to
live on love and a Second Lieutenant's
pay for fifteen or twenty years. But
meanwhile the girls swarm around
West Point like flies around a
keg of molasses-the cadets couldn't
fight them off with q stick if they were
so minded-they are all pretty, all
gay, and all happy in the possession of
just as much cadet as they can capture.
That isn't very much, as at the last hop
at the post there were forty cadets and
precisely 100 girls. They observe the
rule that prevailed at old-fashioned
Dutch tea parties when a lump of sugar
hung from a string in the ceiling and
the guests dipped it into their cups
turn about. Each girl has her cadet
for a certain limited period then she is
expected to hand him over to the next
one, who is always waiting for him on
time. 1t SO happens that only two of
the four classes OF cadets are available
at n time, one class being away each
year on furlough, and the fourth class,
the plebes, being forbidden on pain of
death to show themselves on any occa-
sion whatever, except on parade. Thus
a girl can have but two really success
fEl seasons here, at the end of that tins
the two classes that she knows being
superseded by newcomers, She may
pick up occasional stragglers from the
main body after her second year, but
she has no regular and authorized stand
ing as q belle. The girls who persist
in coming here after their second sea-
son are called turnbacks.
Those who are In good and regular
standing as in their first or second sea-
son are called rats There is no open
warefare between tho rats and the
t~urnbacks, hostilities being mostly car
ried on in Guerrilla fashion. The fact
is, they are remarkably affectionate In
their manner and entwine their arms
around one another and kiss violently,
but shere is as much bushwhacking as
kissing among them. An old cynic
who hangs around here M
says that when women kiss the devils
laughs.
The cadets are as trim, as well be-
haved, and as clean as ever. Indeed,
one of their chief charms is their clean
illness. A cadet goes through with
such q series of scrubbings that several
skins are peeled off and grow out again
during his four years course. The first
thing, they are plunged au naturel into
a tub of boiling water; there they are
pa.Doiled. When taken out they are
sandpapered and hung out to dry.
Then they are polished up, especially
their faces. which on hop nights shine
like Moses's in the burning bush. Once
every day they are washed within an
inch of their lives, after which they are
strapped up in their uniforms, which
bind the upper part of their bodies
like the ancient Egyptian mummy cloths.
The young ladies can never see the
cadets unless they GO to see them, ex-
cept those who ara at the West Point
Hotel, the only hotel allowed on the
reservation, and which does not accom-
modate a large crowd. The omnibuses
and carriages which run from neighbor-
ing points carry the young ladies from
the surrounding hotels. 1t Is estimated
that O girl travels several thousand
miles going to and from West Point
during the season.
Sunday afternoon parade is always
attended by q great crowd. Promptly
at half past . the parade is formed.
The Adjutant, ayoung gentleman wear
ing a tall shake and q dazzling pair OF
white trousers, is the cynosure of all
eyes. The long line of cadets go
through the drill as n man. The
word of command sounds something
like this:
"C-arr-r-y-hunksl
observation-disclosures
"Pre-sent-hunksw &c. Garry
hunks means carry s~trms-hunks being
the pronunciation of arms commonly
used by adiutants in the army at pa
rade.
Tie hops go on with the same regu-
larity, the same waltzes are played, the
same corporal stands at the door with
his drum sticks firmly grasped ready to
beat the tattoo at 10 o'clock for the
young ladies to go home and leave the
cadets in peace. The same grim sem
try marches up and down to keep the
girls from seeing the boys home and
hanging on the gate afterward. The
band continues 10 play Take Back the
Heart that Thou Gavest" as the in