The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-07-19
COLONEL JOSEPH STEWART OF
Berkeley, Who Was a Glass
mate Of General hongstreet

llotS vi HSASioi AOASSt1GGt
banded. Until o'clock they were per-
mitted to wander round that place as they
pleased. If one of them failed to stand or
walk erect some CADET would spy him and
at once see that he did.
The finest exhibition of wrath I ever
saw in ali my life was given in case of
this kind by a CADET named Conner. A
m ild-mannered youth from Iowa, Murphy
by name, didn't get into position quic xiv
enough to satisfy this little car of a cadet.
and the result was appalling. He lust
loaned at the mouth, yelled orders with
such strength and volubility that the
frightened air fairly quivered with the
conclusion, hoped around like Sioux
Indian engaged in the ghost dance, and
gestured so frantically that his eyes bulged
out with the exertion.
II was dramatic. 1t was thrilling. It
was simply marvellous. Yet that cadet
wasn't in the least angry. Subsequent
events conclusivelv proved it. After he
had tried this dodge on about ten candi-
dates, 1 got used to witnessing it. At the
last the performance began to retrograde;
Conner had grown weary. But for an
exhibition of rage where none existed,
he was entitled to the laurels.
Any candidate caught with his ewes on
cadet was promptly ordered to turn
those Shiny orbs off him." "a few in
stances was this command disobeyed.
Observation showed that compliance was
not so much due to belief in the beati-
tudes as 10 a realization of the wrath to
come. Fear of punishment here was
greater thanthe hope of reward.
This interval between breakfast and 8
O'Clock was an elysium OF bliss to the
cadets. The coast was clear for hazing,
and they made hay while the sun shone.
The pranks they played were something
we never see in the wild and woolly West
Our minds need development in this
respect. If they were commercial COM
modify we would either be obliged to have
high pro tective tariff or go out OF the
business.
Two candidates were inveigled into the
bathroom one morning and told to strip
off their clothing. They stripped without
demurring.
One of them was then plunged into tub
of cold water and the other into a tub of
daAOA hDOub aS COuA0 US
without blistering. After they had become
acclimated their positions ware suddenly
reversed. The result can be imagined.
This trick was not tried until after the
physical examination. Those cadets pos
sessed many traits of the fox and didn't
intend to run the risk of killing any one.
Not they'll Oh no; this would lead to an
investigation and severe punishment. Be-
sides if the victim died he couldn't be
hazed any more.
At o'clock the boys were marched to
the mess hall and put through all exam
ination until II. The tables were all
cleared for the occasion; pen, ink and pa
per provided, and a set of questions on a
given study laid before each candidate.
Several regular officers walked monoto-
nously up and down the aisles to see
that no one received any assistance from
those near him. One of the colored youths
mentioned in the foregoing was detected
in the act of copying from another's paper
and "fired" without ceremony. This eff
fectually disposed of any further copying
which may have been contemplated.
AS each boy finished he was permitted
to return to the quad" At II sharp the
pers. Half an hour was given for recrea-
ton, and then the candidates were
marched to the mess hall again for
luncheon. At2P. NJ. the examination was
continued. After 4:30 o'clock no one was
permitted to write further. Then came
dinner, brief period for wandering around
in the quad" and all were sent to their
rooms. The candidates quarters were in
the barracks to the north of the square.
The room in which my two companions
and l were placed was situated near the
stairway on the second floor. A Georgian
youth named Ashley was honored by being
appointed orderly. Afterward he re-
pented this distinction in sackcloth and
ashes.
A partition ran half the length of the
room. On each side was an iron bedstead.
We took turns about sleeping in bed and
on the floor. Each of us was forced one
night out of three to bunk on the floor.
The first evening was spent entirely in
unearthing the mysteries of the room.
The ingenuity with which its former oc-
cupants had managed to conceal pro.
soribed articles was almost incredible.
Holes had been cut in the baseboards and
the pieces of wood taken out cleverly re-
placed. In one of them was a half EN- piled
package of tobacco and in another corn
cob pipe had been abandoned in its old
age. On top of the partition had been cut
grooves for storing cigarettes. A loose
brick in the fireplace was removed, re-
vealing cavity beneath. A tin tag bear
ing the brand of well-known chewing
tobacco afforded circumstantial evidence
as to what this hidlng-place had been
used for. Even the brass cup on the gas
chandelier had the half-burned stump of a
cigar in it.
AT 10 o'clock sharp all lights were or
dered extinguished. A cadet would run
up each fight of stairs, and poking his
head into the room shout, "All in ?''
The duty of the orderly was to answer,