The National tribune., 1894-10-18

and go hack to drill and study, happy to be again
in harness, for it is only one year until they
will be sent to their regiments
Every one visiting or living on the Hudson
anywhere near West Point drives over in the
afternoon to see the drill and it is well worth
the trip. When the call sounds in the after
noon, the four companies of Cadets, dressed in
their handsome uniforms of gray dress coat,
white duck trousers. and helmets, or, on very
warm days, in an entire dress of white duck,
with their young Captains in scarlet sashes at
the head of each company, form on the parade
ground to 90 through the manual of arms The
military band marches back and forth on the
plain, the Color Sergeant with his escort comes
forward. and the flag is saluted in passing. The
first Captain. after inspecting the companies,
turns them over to the Officer of the Day, who
puts them through drill. Then the young
Captains march over to the Officer. who dis
misses the Cadets the flag is lowered from the
flagstaff the sunset-gun fred, aud one goes
away feeling very patriotic, very proud of the
Cadets aud glad to be an American.
This feeling extends to the very babies on
the reservation. One sturdy little two year old
boy. presumably the child Of an officer, stands
on watch every afternoon, and when the Cadets
march up to the mess-hall to the music OF fife
and drum, he gravely goes TO meet them, his
little bare legs stretched into absurdly long
strides in time TO the music. Arriving at the
entrance of the mess hall. he stands, heels to-
gether and hand to his forehead in salute until
the last Cadet has filed in. Then he wheels
around and marches back, never falling out of
military step until he reaches his own gate"
But the casual observer of the Cadets fails
TO get anywhere correct idea of the
amount and variety of hard work they put
through in their four years training there
Their academic courses are as difficult as those
of any of the great colleges, and, in addition
to that they must in the same time acquire the
special knowledge which fits them for their
profession and in doing this their time is so
constantly occupied that they are not allowed
a days vacation until they have served three
years. Their special training is not all of it
physical by any means; for there is an amazing
amount of mathematics and chemistry to be
studied to greater extent than what would
be required in an ordinary academic course, 10
fit Cadet for the Army. Still, the physical
training constitutes the chief extra work; for
outside of the drilling, which a visitor may
see. there is notwithstanding every other day
for three years. the moving of heavy artillery,
brIdge-building. and few other such trifles
which require muscle as well as brain work
Aud the horseback riding is not of kind one
sees In city riding academy. 1t includes
mounting and disnounting bareback at trot
and gallOp. mounted sword exercise and lance
exercise, and about all the daring feats Buffalo
Bills best riders exhibit in their show work.
MS HaTH WOfR, iueniai ana physician, cannot
be endured continuously for four years by much
more than one-half of the maximum number of
Cadets which the Academy is allowed under the
law, as the average number of graduates proves.
Those who do endure it have demonstrated
their possession Of exceptionally sturdy mental
aud muscular fiber. aud the result is that the
officers of the American Army constitute a
class which, as the correspondent quoted says,
makes one proud of being All American"
The effect Of this exceptionally hard and
rough life on the Cadets, in respect to their
feeling toward the Academy when they arc
post graduates. is shown in the absence of any
of the sentimental attachment for West Point
as their alma mater which distinguishes the
graduates of other academies There is no
time there for the college fun which endears
other colleges In the recollection of their chill
dren. The work is so unceasing and hard that
1t IS rare for an Army officer, even those who
are stationed in this neighborhood 10 revisit
the Point until they are recalled there by an
assignment as a technical or academic in
structor.