Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1891-07-24

care OF an orderly, who was instructed
| to conduct me to the cadet barracks al
the other side of the square. AS we
started to cross the yard, he looked at
my glossy plug" and chuckled.
'If I'd "a been you, l wouldn't a
worn that hat up here" he said, com
miseratingly; that hats going to get
you into heap of trouble"
1t did. We had not proceeded a rod
before nearly every window of the
huge, three-sided barracks was filled
with bowling cadets, who had spotted it.
Take that thing away and drown it,
orderly!'
''What kind of bate did you use?"
Don't want any! Come around next
week.
'Blocll and run!'
''Get on to the kid under the pipey"
PA, please kin wear high hat?"
These were some of the salutations
that greeted me and | realized that |
was in for it. | shivered, but the or
derby never moved an eyelash. He was
accustomed to such pleasantries. He
led me upstairs to the second floor,
front room. He tapped upon the door,
a voice said: Gomez and he left me to
my fate
want to say right here that l have
not exaggerated in the least, and that
/ am giving my actual experience for
the benefit of prospective cadets. If
they succeed in obtaining appoint
ments, they will bear me out in my
statements.
"Why don't you come when you're
invited?" yelled half dozen voices in
chorus.
I came | found myself in a room
about twelve by fourteen feet in di-
mensions 1t was occupied by six
young men in cadet fatigue uniform.
| They were the cadet officers who took
tender care of the verdant plebe and in
stilled into his budding mind the first
principles of warriorship.
had scarcely entered the room when
my hat was landed in one corner of the
room and my grip in another. Two of
them caught hand apiece, jerked II
down the sides of my legs, jammed the
little finger of each hand along the
seams of my trousers, fiattening out the
palms full to the front.
Another grabbed me by the shoul-
ders, placed his knee in my back and
pulled me out straight until / cracked.
Still another was busy dislocating my
chin, while the fifth was jerking my
feet into "V'' shape. The sixth was
driving tack into the wall at about
the height of my nose.
After they he'd gotten nae fixed TO
their satisfaction, and so that looked
n r L. t..
| chamber of horrors in the Eden Musee,
was informed that that was the first
position of soldier. Then pitied the
soldiers. although had never seen one
look like that, and | wondered wha,
the last position of a soldier must be il
the first was as hard to do as that.
Compressed into this state of being,
/ was marched over to the tack and
commanded to place my nose against
it and to move at my peril Then, in
order to divert my attention from the
tack, so that they might be able to jerk
me out of the first position of soldier
and thus have more fun with me by
| fixing me up all right again, they
hurled such questions as these at me:
whats you name|
"Age?"
"How's your mother?"
"Got any dynamite in your grip"
"Where'd you get that hat?"
"Where were you born?"
"Sorry or glad that you were born?"
Don't you think it was waste OF
material?"
''Thinlz you'll make good soldier?"
| "Married?"
"How many children"
"How much is twice two?"
"Why?"
| "How far is it from here to some
where else and back if you run both
ways?"
"Are you white or colored?"
| Read and write?"
''Pa alive?"
| "What for?"
Grandma got any teeth?"
"How many?"
| "Why didn't you count emp"
SIS she a flirt?"
"Fraid of a nigger man in the dark?"
Ever scalp wooden lndian?"
How many fingers on each hand?"
"How 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 | 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 door
way and found myself in 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-
4
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; G:30 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 $3.50 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 vertical line,
should not vary a 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 hui
morous cadets would drop in to make
CALL" and then they would put US
through "a course Of spouts. such as
compelling us TO sing, TO whistle. to
dance, and to hop from trunk to
mantel and "chirp like a mocking-
| bird" Another diversion for the cadets