Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-09-19
CADETS AND CHARMERs
IN OLD Girls shrewd Observations On
the Way They Have in the Army.

Al tld Girls Shrewd Observations On
the Way They Have in the Army.
from the New York Sun.
It was one of Sidney Smiths notions
hat girls ought to have military dolls
20 play with, just rs they have hobby
lorses to ride, to inure them to the sight
II the live article without becoming de-
noralized, But the appetite for the
military grows by what it feeds on, and
girl who has once taken u turn at @
Irritation with West Point cadet is
ike tiger who has got taste Of blood.
They are past help then. The infection
IS deadly and ineradicable; they seldom
stop short of marrying Second Lieu
tenant and going out to Puget Sound to
i've on love and Second Lieutenants
pay for fifteen or twenty years. But
! meanwhile the girls swarm around
West Point like flies around
aeg of molasses---the cadets couldn't
light them off with stick if they were
20 mindea-they are all pretty, all
gay, and all happy i'll theposseasion Of
lust as much cadet as they can capture.
That isn't very much, as at the Ia st hop
1t the post there were forty cadets and
precisely 100 girls. They observe the
rule that prevailed at old fashioned
Dutch tea parties Wien lump of sugar
hung from q string IL the ceiling and
the guests dipped it into their cups
turn about Each girl has her cadet
for certain limited period then she is
expected to hand him over to the next
one, who is always waiting tor him on
time. 1t so Happens that only two OF
The four classes Of cadets are available
1T one time, one class being away each
year or furlough, and the fourth class,
the plebns, being forbidden on paln Of
death to show Themselves on any occa-
sion whatever, except on parade. Thus
q girl can have but two really success
full seasons here, at the end of that time
the two classes that she knows being
superseded by newcomers, She may
pick up occasional stragC,ors from the
MAIN body after her second year, but
she has no regular and authorized stand
ing as a 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
waretare between the rats and the
turnbaclzs, Eostilities being mostly car
riel on in guerrilla fashion. The fact
is, they are remarkably affectionate in
their manners and entwine their arms
around one another and kiss violently,
but shere is as much bushwlacking as
kissing amorg them. An old cynic
who hangs around here summers
says that when women kiss the devils
laughs.
The cadets are as trim, as we'll be-
nnved, and as clean as ever. Indeed.
one of their chief charms is their clean
Iiness. A cadet goes through with
such series of scrrbbings that several
skins are peeled off and grow out again
during his four years course. The first
thing, they are plunged all natllrel into
a tub of boiling water; there they ara
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 bnsh. Once
| every day they are washed within an
| inch of their lives, after which they are
i strapped up in their uniforms, which
/ bind the upper part Of their O lies
like the ancient Egyptian mummy cloths.
! The young ladies. can never see the
cadets unless they go to SEQ them. eN.
ccpt those who are at the West Point
Hotel, tue only hotel allowed on the
+ In, ~
modate large crowd. The nmni|nses
and carriages which r1n from ncishbor
ing points carry the young ladies from
; the surrounding 10 tets. 1t is esti,natcIl
+ that q girl travels several Thousand
miles going to and from West Point
Turing the season.
Sunday afternoon parade is always
! attended by a great crowd. Promptly
at half past 6 the parade is formed
The Adjutant, young gentleman wear
: ing tall shake and q dazzling pair Of
! white trousers, is the exposure Of all
eyes The long line Of cadets go
through the drill as one man. The
word of command sounds something
! like this:
| -y----hunks!"
! Shoulder----lnnks!
! "Pre---sent ----hunks" &c. Carry
hunks means carry arms--hunks being
the pronunciation Of arms commonly
used by adjutants in the army at pa
rade.
The hops go on with the same regu-
! larity, the same values are PLAYED, the
same corporal stands at the door with
his drum sticks firmly grasped ready to
/ beat the tattoo at IL o'clock for the
yonng ladies to go home and leave the
! cadets in peace. The same grim SEN
; try marches up and down to keep the
girls from seeing the boys home and
hanging on the quite afterward. The
! band continues to play "Take Back the
Heart that Thou Gavest" as The in
nocent young tadpoles of both sexes
! dispense. Nothing at West Point chang
es-even the faces of tho cadets remain
always young. apparently they are
! the same fellows that drilled and dane
ed and fiirtel along about 1885.