The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1884-09-05
THE WEST POINT. CADETS.
HOW They Are instructed In Gym.
nast,cs and Swimming.
[Cor. New york Timesl

AAONAOunes W 1CCrs CllcIC WStS uO Special
training in gymnastics at the academy.
The athletic apparatus was limited, and
the cadets used to go and practice
when they pleased outside Of study
hours. In 1881 Lieut.. Edward S. Far
row, who graduated from. here in 1875,
returned after five years Indian warfare
on the frontier as instructor of tactics
His experience in the saddle and hard.
ships Of camp life convinced him of the
necessity Of a systematic course. of gym.
llastics to develop and increase the phys.
ical powers. Of thp:cadet by gradually;
advancing him from preliminary move,
ments to the most tduQus and compli-
Gated machine exercises. BY June, 1882,
Mr.. Farrow succeeded in getting the old
riding-school in the academy Building
fitted up as a gymnasium, andbeganto
put his theories intoSpractice. .S.s.,S
The height, weight and measurement,
and chest measurement of every cadet
in the fourth class was entered in q book.
and each one put. ttlhT sNgli an hours sys,
telnatic drill, every day. Ats tie end of
the first year the. advantages Of this
treatment were apparent, even to those
who had at first been opposed to the
plan. The average gain in weight for
each cadet in the class was 134 pounds,
the average increase of chest girth ii
inches, the average increase in forearm
Il inches, the average increasein upper
arm q inches. The largest gain in
weight for any individual member in the
class was 10! pounds; the largest in
crease i'll chest girth y inches, and the
largest increase in the upper arm 81
inches Under the system arranged and
carried out by Lieut.. Farrow, the de-
velopment below the waist is uniform
with the development above it. The
transformation in some of the boys at
the end of the first year is sometimes
marvellous. From awkward. STOPPING,
shambling boys, hardly capable of a
brisk three-mile walk, they become.
strong, supple, athletic young fellows,
capable of a forced march of twenty q 5;
miles a day for three consecutive days,
and performing difficult and seemingly
impossible fcats On horseback, climbing
parapets, mounting scarps, and crossing
bitches.
In this study, as in all others here, the
cadet goes through his lessons with giili-
tary precision and discipline. The sec
tions march into the gymnasium and
each man stands erect in the line until
his turn comes TO perform the lesson of
the day. No unnecessary talking or
shouting is allowed, and the cadets are
not allowed to poke fun at the awkward
ness of q beginner. Very frequently
some absurd performance of a timid fell
low makes the instructor laugh too The
lesson over, each man wraps himself up
in his overcoat and marches back to his
quarters The exercise is divided be-
tween recitation hours, and the change
stimulates the mind to study, Not since
the present gymnasium was started has
there been an accident. Care is taken
to arrange the Mattresses to break the
force of fall. sThe course includes ex-
ercises in running, leaping, jumping,
wrestling, carrying, and pyramid build
ing. The agility displayed by the cadets
i'll the two aforementioned exercises is
astonishing Feats that the New Yorker
is accustomed to see only by trained and
high salaricd athletes alta circus they per-
form with apparent ease. Six mon will
form a pyramid and reach a window
twenty feet high without putting on any.
one man a greater proportion Of the
strain than he out to bear.
These exercises rank among thG;most
useful in wall climbing or entering
houses Indian clubs, dumb-bells, bar
bells, weights, vaulting horses, horizon
tai bars, rings, the trapeze, and climb
ing poles are all brought into play in de-
veloping tho muscles. In this years
class two young men can clear S feet 4t
inches in running jump, which is more
than an inch better than Haryard's last
record. Three men do 4 feet 5 inches in
a standing jump, and two-thirds of the
class will not fall short of the mark. In
pole-leaping, cadets. easily do 81 feet,
and they could excel this if the ceiling
was higher. In fact tho gymnasium
room is a poor place at best--low- rooted
and narrow, in the cranped basement of
a bulluing. A bill is before congress
now to appropriate >$15, 900 for new
building and additional apparatus,
which, if passed, will enable the academy
to fit up one of the best-equipped gym
nasiums in the country. In vaulting
several of the class can easilN~cle
double bucks, fifteen feet apart. The
cadets all enter the gymnasium with zest
ftuu oAhoAOuShiy OhJOy oLO C-AoiShoo. hLtSi
the first year they arc loft to their own
resources and enter the gymnasium
when they please; but all are thoroughly
trained for the more difficult duties Of
the riding school, First-year men do not
ry the live horses until they have be-
ome thoroughly at home in any position
IN the leather backs of the wooden ones
i'll, the gymnasium.
During the summer months the cadets
are taught how to swim, how to rescue a
drowning person, and the quickest
method of restoring the apparently
drowned. In last years class sixty-seven
were unable to swim q stroke when they
reported for their first lesson. Before
the summer was over; every one of that
number could swim across the Hudson,
river from the bath houses near the tar
gets in Washington valley, and part of
them could swim back again. The river
is three e-quarters Of a mile wide at this
point. The cadets are taught all the,
motions Of swimming in tho gymnasium
during the winter, so that when they get
into the water they have comparatively
little toilearp. sal
~ y singular Clause. B.
5 4 1.-THE Current #
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