The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-09
tino Tor drill, and mako up tho tent agai

are your general tIKtfNctlonss bpaGlhL OF
doris wlllAe issued from time 70 time. NJ
work TOR other gsntlsuisp In A Company, ~
the commandment has boon 10 ~th0nghtleas ~
TO assign only eight plsbea to US, whils
thirty hays been unloAdsd on Company u
where they arc not needed. thete being only
ten gentlemen present with the company,
to q. .evsn NJ the expense q getting g.
ported for the condition Of your v tent;
your domerits don't count yet. ours do.
Now, sir, you arc duly placed on. dnty.
Hnt that was only ono tent. y presently
.transpired that. / would be expected to look
boron tbs left, 4 dashing ysarling whom !
had known whom he was at Chnrlisr's and
Tat Anthon'a, and both At Woods gym
naaiu.n and this same dancing school IN
New York. Three OF M Aspirants for mill
tary glory Wers guartered In the second
street. One 81 my t%ent-rnates. the Ynle
man. was detailed on special duty over
tho tent Of q brace Of happy third class
men 1T our right hand, with incidental du-
ties ia perform as the tent Of two cadet
otnosra and the cadet frat sergeant. The
next, a dark-sysd, boy from OswsRo, had
own .splebs hotel'' We took week and week
about. Presently ono Of our eight was
taken i'll and to the hospital, and his
duties were ..distribntedn to me. II the
devil finds mischief for Idle hands to do
the devil had no show whatever 20 far ~ ]
was concerned and the summer Of 'G2 lasted.
From ne rising Of tho sun until several
hours after tho going down Of the sanae no
a Company plsbs had an instant OF leisure.
II was 4 point OF honor with ths old cadets
to keep the new ones at work. Each day.
morning and evening, the "polioe details
consisting OF four members Of the third
E...z - u n * IT, ~ - IN n n nm n y nrfkt1 II n
il thorough order. the third clnssman sim
ply requiring his special duty plsbe to mp
pear ii his stead. "A first-class private, in
those days, when detailed for guard duty
would merely inquire what plebe in his
company was sufficiently we'll instructed to
represent him, md gave no further thought
TO the mstter. Nearly a half Of the class
was in uniform before this Fourth Of July
came round, and / had worn cadet uniform
perforce, before going to examination. In
decd, r went TO the hospital for physical
examination in cadet gray (before the sur
geons We all appeared in uniform-natural
buff but il was that or nothing. gallant
fellow graduating premature ely two days
previous concluded tnat he liked my New
York college suit (the last made for mo ~
Jim Bell, Of blessed memory better than
his own, and his nntty gray coatss and
trousers fitted me to a dot. The swap Was
made by the advice Of our cadet lieutenant
COnMhuulAH Uu0 plSUeS-lb Ah1AAJ Al0oN0A
my consent, "Bosom Shirts" too, were
,things no cadet could use, 80 they went to
another good fellow, whom we heard Of as
fighting like a gladiator III Hancock's fore
most line at Gettysburg. I wondered 1t the
bullet that ripped away sash and coat and
a long furrow i'll his coat had sim llarly
ohanneled one of those |lamented shirts of
mine. I-z
All this labor, all this rough initiation.
all this apparent "harassing or molestlng"
or the plebas went OH openly and above
board, and nobody in authority seemed to
care a whit. Indesd, we thought, the old
cadets thought. and ! believe to this day
it was generally thought by officers old and
young, that 1t was all "w1nked at" because
of its utterly leveling effect. Tt brought the
oollega-bred youth and the, country bump
kin down to the same pltne. 1t sternly
forbade them seeking comrades or asso.
%ciates among the upper classmen, and
made the plebss rely solely N one another
for friendship or sympathy. It5laid each
year the foundations of that deep, abiding
and almost enthusiastic GLASS feeling which
at West Point, more than any other college
I ever heard Of, bloomed and honrlshed,
year after year, stronger and stronger.
1t may have been all wrong IN principle.
but 1t was great in result, and then what
experts we became in cleaning guns and
buck les and belt plates FIX s$
Yet this, too, is a thing Of the past.
CHARLES KING, Captain, u. :. Army.
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