The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-10-03
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: w ny
sHow far is it from here to some
where else and back if you run both
ways?"
'sAre you white or colored?"
''Read and write?"
"Pa alive?"
'What for?"
"Grandma got any teeth?'
"How many?"
"Why didn't you count emp"
as she flirt?"
'sFraid of niger man in the dark?''
Ever scalp wooden indiana"
slow many fingers ON each hand?''
slow many thumbs?''
"Both alike, amt they?"
ANY insane people in your family
except yourself?'
These and hundred other entertain
ing questions were put to me. Although
was all afire, / could not help but
laugh at some of the conundrums.
Whenever l did SO my nose was ham,
mered up against the tack and ! was
threatened with the guard house.
Finally, more dead than alive, was
told to shoulder my grip and plug"
and was conducted to my temporary
quarters on the top floor of the bar
racks. was showed through a door,
way and found myself in a room al
ready occupied by eight other plebes
who had just passed through the ordeal
experienced by me.
After the officer had departed they
greeted me with howl. We were
soon friends, however. as we were to
be roommates and bedfellows until the
mental examination should decide
our respective fates. We did not know
each other by our names, but by the
states we hailed from. In my quarters
were Texas" Virginia" "Califor-
nia," ''Alabama,- wisconsin" Mis-
souri," ARKANSAS Maryland" and
"New York." myself.
This was our daily routine: Reveille,
$50; up and dress, inspection. return to
rooms and make up beds; $50 break
fast. From that until noon we studied
or did as we pleased in our quarters.
At noon we were marched to Mess
hall for dinner. In the afternoon we
had another inspection. and at 5:s0 we
were marched to supper. At nine
o'clock ''taps' our beds, which had pre-
viously been made, were hastily en-.
tered as the lights were doused.
Each ''plebe" had to make his own
bed and help take care of the room. In
the morning the blankets, sheets, pill
lows, ETC. (of all nine of us). had to be
folded and placed one above the other,
so that their edges, in a vertical line,
should not vary hairs breadth. II
they did they were kicked down by the
officer, and had to be rearranged.
At all hours of the day and night hu-
morous cadets would drop In to make
a CALL" and then they would put us
through "a course of spouts." such as
compelling us TO sing, to whistle, tc
dance. and to hop from trunk te
mantel and ''chirp like mocking-
bird" Another diversion for the cadets
was to catch ''plebe, when he was
compelled to go to the yard, and play
horsey" with him, the .'plebe" walking
on his hands and knees with the cadet
astride of his back.
"Why stand it?r asked the prospect,
i've ''plebe." Stand it or fight. If you
fight you will have to fight the whole
corps. Better to stand it and wait until
you become cadet and the next batch
of s'phebes'' arrives. Then you have
an opportunity of getting square.
After week of this brand of excite.
ment we were marched to the hal
where our mental status was to be in.
vestigated, and l desire to state that
no ''plebe" is permitted to appear out
side his quarters unless he assumes the
first position of a soldicr-shoulders
thrown backward, chest forward, toes
turned outward. and little fingers down
the seams of the trousers.
This position must also be assumed
whenever any frisky cadet knocks al
the door of the quarters, even if it is in
the early morning hour, and / have
seen nine shivering ''plebes," awakened