National Republican., 1884-11-05
WEST roINr WAYS.

w ESI IOlNIs WAYS.
Bellies aud He'll Tiattoms In oiden
Times, as Told by an Old Time
Belle.
An oldtime belle, revisiting wost
Point in 1855 after a lapse of twenty
years, found the ways there the same as
In hor younger days, and put her obser-
vations of life and tho ladies there in
print, as follows:
1t was one of Sidney Smiths notions
that girls ought to have military dolls to
play with, just as they have hobby horses
TO ride, to inure them to tho sight Of the
live article without becoming demoral-
lied. But the appetite for tho military
grows by what 1t feeds on, and girl who
has once taken " turn at Irritation with n
West Point CADETS like tiger who has
got a taste OF blood. They are past help
then. Tho infection is deadly and in
eradicable; they seldom stop short of mar
ryinR second lieutenant, and going out
TO Puget Sound to live on love and q
second lieutonants pay for fifteen or
twenty years. But, meanwhile the girls
swarm around West Point like flies
around q keg of molasses-the cadets
couldn't fight them off with a stick IL
they were so minded-they are all pretty,
ali gay, and all happy in the possession Of
Just so much cadet as they oan capture.
That Isn't very much, as at the last bop
ut the post there was forty cadets and
precisely 100 girls. They observed tho
rule that prevailed at old-fashioned
Dutch tea parties when lump Of sugar
hung from string in tho ceiling and the
guests dipped 1t into their cups turn
about. Each girl has her cadet for a GER
tain limited period, when sho Is expected
to hand him over 10 the next ono, who Is
always waiting for him on time. IL SO
happens that only two Of the four classes
of cadets are available at ono time, one
class being away each year on furlough,
and the fourth class, the plebes, being
forbidden on pain Of death to show them
selve on any occasion whatever, except at
parade. Thus girl eau have but two
successful seasons here, at the end Of that
time the two classes that she knows being
superseded. by new comers. She may
pick up occasional stragglers from tho
main body after her second year. but she
has no regular and authorized standing as
belle. The girls who persist in coming
here after their second season are called
turnbacks.
Those who are in good and reg ulsr
standing as in their first and second season
are called rats. There Is no open warfare
between the rats aud the turnbacks, hos
tilities being mostly carried on in guerrilla
fashion. The fact is, they are remarkably
atlectionate In their manner, and entwine
their arms around one another and kiss
violently, but there is as much BUSH
whacking as kissing among them. An
old cynic who hangs around here sum-
mcrs says that when women kiss the
devil laughs.
The cadets are as trim, as we'll behaved,
and as clean as ever. Indeed, one OF their
chief charms is their cleanliness. A cadet
goes through with such q series of scrub
bings that several skins are peeled Off and
grow out again during the four years.
course. The first thing, they are plunged
AT ndturGii into tub of boiling water; then
they are parboiled. 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 brush. Once every
day they are washed within an inch Of
their lives, after which they arc strapped
up in their uniforms, which bind the up
per part of their bodies like the ancient
Egyptian mummy clothes.
ladies can never see the
cadets unless they 90 to see them. except
those who are at the West Point hotel,
the only hotel allowed on the reservation,
and which does not accommodate large
crowd. The omnibuses aud carriages
which run from neighboring points carry
the young ladies from the surrounding
hotels. 1t is estimated that girl travels
several thousand miles going to and from
West Point during the season. 5..t
Sunday afternoon parade is always at.
tended by great crowd. Promptly at
H.3O tho naruIa ia forrnad Tho odintant