Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-06-17
WEST POINTS oRRAr DAY.
Famous Mon and Pretty Women at the
Army Academy.
10 SundaV's Nelo York So


From Suadays Nc,o York sun
A new picture was framed in the beau
tiful setting of mountains and verdure at
West Point yesterday. Jutting ont on
the level plain was big tent roof spread
between four huge elms that served for
corner poles. Under it, in the centre sat
the white-legged cadets, and all around
them, a veritable band OF human flowers,
sat their admirers, the ladies, gay in sum-
mer silks. Scattered around the outside
of the congregation were the plebes-the
new Corners who want to be cadets. In
every State some community or other had
been interested in the examinations for
their place, and great have been the re-
jOicings OF the friends of the triumphant
boys. But no one need envy them now,
for life viii be made a burden to them
before they are considered broken in. and
already they have mad bitter mouthfulS of
the fruit of the system which produces
good soldiers.
In front of the petted cadets and the
smiling ladies Is raised platform brill
| liantly draped with that flag to which
every army officer raises his hat when he
meets it tluttering over the heads of
marching soldiers. On the platform sit
many more or less famous men, with Gen.
Merritt, Superintendent OF the Post, the
central figure, and Mr.. Endicott, the jul
dlcial-lockng, mild-eyed, handsome Sec
rotary of War by his side. These are
notes taken about the distinguished per-
sons ON the stage:
senator Joseph r. Hawley, growing
white-baired, but still with ruddy, full
round face. He looks as if the boom for
the Presidency was a weight on bis mind,
but it did not interfere with his making a
/ good speech at the reunion of the
| West Point graduates on Friday night.
'Senator Beck, of kentucky. much the
biggest man in West Point, a giant with
face like that of John Kelly. He is
/ dressed in blue flannel, and is in hurry
/ to get to Sheepshead Bay and see the races
| lie has not recovered from his aston
ishment at being told by Gen. Fitzhugh
Lee that Apollinaris is the only beverage
man ought to drink.
''1he Hon. John Bigelow, silent and OBJ
! servant; unaware that many eyes are
| turned toward his handsome, intellectual
face, which seems detached from a
former age and left by itself in this
one.
seen. FitZhugh Lee, who has just tast-
! ed Apollinaris straight for the first time,
and wonders what it was made for, sepa-
rated from the ladies, who have put his
/ gallantry to a strong test without strain
ing it, by persistently seeking him out
! during whole fortnight. He does not
/ know that the entire post has been talk
ing all day Of his eloquent, ardent, poeti-
cal speech of the night before. In it he
told of his cadet life before the war, when
! his uncle Robert K. Lee was in command.
lie said since the rebellion had to be, il
was better TO have it behind than to have
/ it coming, as the boys did in his day
/ Virginia, and the whole South, said he,
/ are Interested In preserving the glory and
unity of the nation, and realize that to
have healthy whole all the parts must
1 be healthy.
Congressman r. @. Mills, of Texas
/ dark-skinned, round-faced, and genial
| associated in the mind with a Panama
! hat that has been seen exploring every
/ hill and dale, fort. class room, and place
! of interest at the Point for two weeks.
| An inveterate, uncompromising free
/ trader, W no went half way with Morrison
| once, but is going the whole way after
this, if he goes it alone.
Nv. d. Kelley, popularity associated
| with pig iron, who emits sparks when
ever he meets Mills, as if he was steel and
! Mills was flint; a pr0tectionist to the mar
rOw-a small, bent, delicate man, whom
every body at West Point both respects
and admires..
Congressman Blount, of Georgia,
smOoth-faced, bronzed, wide-awake, and
/ looks like CalhOun's pictures; made a
ringing speech to the veterans about the
true chivalrY and forgetfulness toward
the South shown by army officers.
seen. Tappan, the Arkansas Traveller,
and the third eX-ConiedeTate on this
| years Board of Visitors; was chief of the
| Western army in the Confederate service;
a gentle-lO0king, happy man, with a big
share of the eloquence peculiar to South
ern public men; looks like eX-Superinten-
dent Walling; wore a swallOwtail for the
first time at the hop; won't wear it
again.
"Gov. Hoadly, of Ohio; slight, par
italy bald, thin, and pale-faced man, WHO
looks like a persistent student. A lady
who met him yesterday said OF him: He's
so modest / don't see how he ever got to
be Governor of Ohio.' His wife and
daughter are with him, and all taree have
captured the hearts of the West Pointers.
'COl. Charles Il. Goldman, chief of the
Massachusetts mugwumps. He reminds
one of a retired New Bedford sea captain
who has grown fond OF good shore din
ners; a fine-lOOking man with an express
sion Of firmness and solidity of appear
ance unlocked tor in a mugwump; in clio
yer at West Point, where the boast has
always been that there are no politics,
but where each man now says the other
is a mugwumD.p