Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-11

waltz. Then, by command, 1 stood my
PARTNER in a corner, brought her an imagin-
airy ice, declared myself her devoted slave,
and finally placed my hand on my heart,
and declared that life without her would be
dreary waste. All the time other candi-
dates were entering 1the room to report,
and when one of them snickered the room
full of cadet officers made such a rush and
howl at him that he didn't dare laugh
again for week. Finally, they let me 60.
a cadet lieutenant ,remarking that as
seemed so attached TO- a broom, could re-
port at his tent and be slave to his"
1T never did a plebe any good to be stub
born in my day., remarked another lieu
tenant. 1T was always case of doing
what you were told tor of having fight
| en- your hands. And, in addition to being
whipped, stubborn man was always con-
sidered a special subject for discipline and
he soon discovered that ridiculous tasks
were merely part and parcel of the West
Point training. l never knew of but one
| upper classman telling ple5e to do any
| thing that was at all improper. and in this
case the offender was summarily dismissed
from the academy. And in my day do
not remember single plebe who was stub
born and got into fights being graduated
Men of that kind were invariably found de-
fcIent at their first examinations, not as a
result of their stubbornness, but rather on
their mental fncapacity-an incapacity that
was first apparent when they did not have
the sense to submit to good-na tured hazing
that has gone on ever since the academy
| vas established"
nave Holiceu lHat, 100, SAID the ad-
jutant.
1T was true in my time" said Captain
Knight. You know, l reported just after
| the close Of the war. 1 was twenty-five
| then. and for a few short months had been
second lieutenant of a company of volun-
teers. 1 reported at the academy in Sep
TENDER, and wore my lieutenant's uniform
1 arrived at the Point several days before
the time l was to report, and those days
almost cured me of my desire to enter the
academy. I reported on the 18th of August,
and that morning got up very early and
walked down toward the cadet encamp-
ment. Just as l reached the camp the
reveille gun was fired. and, to my amaze
ment whi.e-robed fig Tres began climbing
down from every tree around the camp 1
found that they were plebes, and that the
upper classmen had celebrated the last
night of the encampment by putting all the
plebes up in the trees. At II o'clock the
awakened from the comforting dream that
this was the last night of his hazing.
marched cut of his tent in his night shirt,
and perched up in a tree, there to stay I'M
til reveille the next morning. It was a
ghostly sight," continued the captain, ito
see the trees giving up their white clad
figures, to the same figures rush to
their tents and reappear in a few moments
at roll call. They did it so naturally that
one might imagine trees to be their favorite
sleeping places
On Guard Duty.
Figures in white!" chucklad the quar-
termaster, you all know what a mess a
plebe always makes of his first guard tour.
Well, when / went guard for the first
time. 1 thought I was doing splendidly.
The adjutant gave me the usual searching
inspection and passed me without a word
Of reproach, something very unusual. 1
knew my orders verbatim, and everything
went well during the day. But that night
L al tn
pieces. You remember III those days we
had very complicated rules for challeng-
ing parties appearing near sentiners
pest. 1t was, Who comes there% Who
goes there?' or Who stands there" as the
case might be- But the plebe sentinel had
to be exact to the dot, and in case an up
per classman sat down on his post he
would refuse to answer the challenge until
the plebe called out Who sits there?' Then,
in case several parties approached the
post at once, the poor pfebe had to consider
the rank of all of them, advance the senior
first II the parties came in different direc-
lions, or advance the junior and require
him to give the couRIersign for his seniors
in case they all came together. Well,
about II o'clock that night saw ghostly
looking object coming along my post.
Who comes there?' shouted. SIM an
swered the figure. Hearing a noise behind
me, turned hastily and saw another white
figure. which, on challenging, informed me
that it was Death Then from another
direction came a third white figure which
turned out to be the Devil Here was
predicament. Sin, Death and the Devil all
was the senior and which was the junior.
Before l could deliberate, a barrel with
protruding arms and legs came rolling to-
ward me- Who comes there? Ieyelled.
Challenge me properly came muffied
voice, as the barrel moved rapidly toward
me. Who rolls thereY l challenged. and
then 1 heard smothered laugh from the
nearest tents. But this was not all. From
m cd
One came in a wheelbarrow; while my
back was turned a first classman moved
his bed out on my post, and had to chal-
lenge, Who sleeps there? They surround
ed me like bees, and jumped me because
1 was ratified. Finally a man dropped
down from the tree above me- and the en-
tire crowd climbed onto me for not asking
who dropz there? Then some one started
a newspaper fire at one end of my post.
and when l ran to put it out, a second fire
was started at the other end of the post.
That was the night of nights in my career
as a. sentinel. but by the next day 1 was
laughing about 1t as much any one.''
''Do You remember Downing of 'S4?"
asked the adjutant. "He a cadet
devling plebe one night the plebe stuck
a bayonet in him. 1t was only flesh
wound, but 1t bled profusely, and, of
course, Downing couldn't go to the hos
pital, as that would have led to an investi-
cation and some one would nave been in
trouble for deviling the plebe We dressed
the wound as we'll as we could, but every
few days it would break out again. Well,
all through that camp Downing had to at
tend to his duties as though nothing was
wrong with him, and he had to wash all
his clothes to get the blood stains out be-
fore sending them to the cadet laundry"
What happened to the plebe who stuck
him?'
"Oh, he was found deficient by the aca-
demic board the following January. OF
course, he had no sense, or he would not
have tried to run bayonet through any
one"
Jokes on the newcomers.
TT was great joke in my time" said
the ranking first lieutenant, ito make a
plebe stand attention when he had a buck
ct of water in each hand The way to and
from the water tank passed directly in
front of cadet officers tents, and If plebe
dared to carry water in daytime. some one
was sure to sing out 'Atten-t-ho-o-o-n'
while he was carrying the filled buckets.
OF course, the plebe would drop the buck
cts and assume that rigid attitude laid
down as the position of the soldier. The
water was generally spilled, frequently all
over the plebe, and then there was moth
ing to do but to go back, refill the buckets
and try to run the gauntlet once more. 1t
was venturesome plebe, in my day, who
Nent to the water tank before dark"
when 1 was a plebe" said the new first