The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-08-04
TROUSERS WHITE.
TIVE WEST POINT CADETS KEEP THE
WASHvNOMAN BUSY
me Light battery Ernl-How the Cadets
Manage to Keep Their Leg Gear SO
SpotlessIy Clesn-Carious
Etiquette.
West Point Co

West Point Cor. New York Timesl
Tho light battery drill was an effective
display of motion AMI noise. The exhibition
is one Of the few among those usually ar.
ranged for tho gr iduasing ceremonies that
afford the participants equal enjoyment
with the spectators. The cadets were brim-
ful of enthusiasm they rolled rapidly
over the plain on jolting gun-wagons, run
ming, jumping, charging. wheeling and fir
ing voley after vol!ey until their forms
were lost to visw in the smoke and
taeir shouts inistin.u liable in the echoing
roar OF cannon Gen Sheridan remarked when
he watched tia sam, drill a year ago, that
the cadets vera aG n great disa advantage in
having to ue cavalry hors3s for artillery
drill. Three month"; practice a year. all
that can be sparei for this drill, does not
take enou ,h fri ,klsss out OF the animals to
prevent them doing n great many stupid
and annoying Things that trained artillery
horses would never dream OF. The third
class men acted as cannonaers and the first
class mon mounted officers, the whole
under the generalship of Lieut.. Price. A
little rain at midday an excellent
thing for the visitors, but made the roads
ruinOus to the cadets, WHITE duck trousers
1t is a constant source of wonder to civil
fsns here how the cadets manage to keep
their starchei leg gear so spotlessly clean.
cadet comes out to guard mount, runs
arounI the barraciSs Tor an hour OF two, sits
dirty benches, and then walks into the
recitation-rooin with his white trousers as
free from dirt and creaseS as though they
had jut come from the ironing board.
! "Why," said one lady to-day. as she saw the
cadets marching to dinner, "my boy
couldn't be fit to be seen after he had worn
Such trousers five minutes" AS it Is q
ers the cadets are sometimes careful,
and each one changes four or five
times a day il necessary. Three pairs a
day is con 'iisrsd economical Every cadet
has anywhere from thirty to fifty pairs Of
whits trousers, and he is allowed fourteen
pairs in each weeks wash. The cadet ad ju-
tant, who is called upon at times to make O
little moro di,piay OF himself than his COM
rades in tho ranks. is permitted to send
week, and he doesn't have to worry about
the wash bill, either
There Is a curious etiquette among the
cadets as 60 the disposal of their trousers
when they leave the academy. If a young
man Is at all popular som, of his comrades
bequeath him their trousers as q token Of
respect and remembrance The shortest
cadet in the graduating class ha7 an &C
emulation Of I'D pairs which have coma to
him in this way, and he has to hang them
all up in his room AS the trousers seldom
wear out, except at the bottom Of the legs
they ARE sent to tho commissary's depart
ment to be treated after a fashion custom
airy in families where growing boys over
balance a limitel income The littlest fell
low in the corps at present is Jose Victor
Zavala, from Guatemala, who is very
popular for his patience and his peculiari-
ties. As a mark of their regard the entire
first class are talking of giving him their
white trousers. Should they really do SO
the little South American will have to find
pegs for nearly !, 900 pairs Of trousers.