Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-12-26
TINE WEST POINT CADETS.
EoW They Are Enstruc cd In Gym.
nasties and Swimming.

TStN ~ric lSs
Eow They Are INSTRUCTED In Eyrs-
nasties and Swimming.
Cor New York Ti,nes]
| Previous to 1882 there was no 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.1s7e,
returned after five years Indian warfare
| Oh 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
nastics to develop and increase the phys
| ical powers Of the cadet by gradually
advancing him from preliminary move
ments to the most sssuous and compn-
| Gated machine exercises. By June, 1882.
Mr. .Farrow succeeded in getting the old
ridingschool in the academy building
tilted up as a gymnasium, and began to
put his theories into practice.
The height, weight and measurement,
and chest measurement of every cadet
m the fourth class was entered in a book,
and each one put through an hours sys-
tematic drill every day. At the 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 13t pounds,
the average increase Of chest girth ii
inches, the average increase in forearm
Il inches, the avel age increase in upper
arm 24 inches. The largest gain in
weight for any individual member in the
class was 19a pounds; the largest in
crease in chest girth u 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. he
transformation in some of the boys at
the end Of the first year is sometimes
marvellous. From awkward, stopping,
shanbling boys, hardly capable of
brisk thlee-mile walk, they become,
strong, supple, athletic young fellows,
capable ct forced march of twenty Ave
miles a day for three consecutive days,
and performing difficult and seemingly
impossible feats on horseback, climbing
parapets, mounting scarps, and crossing
.iitches.
In this study, as in all others here, the
cadet goes through his lessons with mih-
tary precision and discipline. The Sec
tions march into the gymnasium, and
each man st,nds 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
less Of beginner. Very frequently
some absurd performance of a timid fell
low makes the instructor laugh too. The
leseon over, each man wraps himself up
in bis overcoat and marches back to his
quarters. The. exercise is divided b.
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 ofsa fab. The course includes ex-
ercises hi running, leaping, jumping,
wrestling, carrying, and pyramid build
ing. The agility displayed by the cadets
in the two aforementioned exercises is
astonishing. Feats that the New Yorker
is accustomed to see only by trained and
tigh-salacied athletes ata circus they per-
form with apparent ease. Six men will
form pyramid and reach window
twenty feet high without putting on any
one man a greater proportion of tire
strain than he out to bear
These exercises rank among the most
useful in wall climbing or entering
houses. Indian clubs, dumb bells, bar
bells, weights, vaulting-horses, horizon
tal bars, rings, the trapeze, and climb
,ng poles are all brought into play in de-
veloping the muscles. In this years
class two young men can clear feet Al
inches in running Jump, which is more
than an inch better than Harvard's last
record. Three men do feet inches in
a standing jump, and two-thirds of the
lass 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 the gymnasium
room is poor place at best-low-r rooted
and narrow, in the cramped basement of
a building. "A bill is before congress
now to appropriate $4,000 for a 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 easily clear
double bucks, fifteen feet apart. The
cadets all enter the gymnasium with zest
and thoroughly enjoy the exercise. After
the first year they are left to their own
resources and enter tbs gymnasium
when they please; but all are thoroughly
trained for. tho moro difficult duties of
the riding school,. First year men do not
Try the live horses until they have be-
come thoroughly at home in any position
IN the leather backs of the wooden ones
N tho 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 a 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 lighthouses near the tar
gets in Washington valley, and part Of
chem could. swim back again.. The river
is three-quarters of q mile wide at this
point. The cadets are taught all the
motions Of swimming in the gymnasium
during the winter, 50 that when they get
into the water they have comparatively
little to learn. E.... :. -.|1
= .f'', A Singular Clause,