The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-16
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. { new set of books he renewed that n,,rnose Between Sprees he would stick to 1t. During rest speils anu hy every camp fire my companion anu vvould be yanked up to the Iountaih os knowledRe and be compelled lo drink from it. If we held back tnere was a good lambasting in store TOT us. We found 1t cheaper to drink at tne fountain of knowledge.
 rake my word for 1t, the course oi study at that camp fire school was .ne n,sst unique In which two boys ever "sn5isd Hut we learned. We had to learn. The two years gave us hp- eral education.
 well, I got back home rom tnas trip husky, muscular chap Wi.n M artasa neae fuIl of classics and mathematics. Inere .va4 a west Point vacancy from sam Dunlap's district. He had caheo 2 eomnefitive examination to i'll It. l ,bo,,oht I'd take a whack at that ex- animation although at that time didn Z know how full that Irish cook had crammed my head. ...
 "There were sixteen of us trying .or tha west Point place. The favorite ,n tbe netting was Will Bragg. son os the old General, and fine, manly ,,ounor fellow he was, too. He had been ofY to college and had prepared TOT sbla examination. Dunlap and General pragx were great friends. Every hoav knew Dunlap wanted 10 give the ulace to wi1i Bragg, but that he was rning to give the rest of us tair show. ,4,o., was over a crowd of us stood in the off,ce of the hotel anxiously awaiting some word from the judges, VIII Bragg hurried in and picking me out or the crowd, said:
 "'You won and won fairly; I con nratulate you.' It was the first time he had spoken to me.
 e Father he said, turning to the old General, we must have him up to the house for dinner tonight
 That we will said the old Gen. eraI, heartily. He was too brave a man to show the disappointment ne felt.
 gratulations on winning he turned to the old general.
 ''This young man has won, but don't mind saving I'm a bit disappointed. wanted the place to go to Will. But have a vacancy in a short while at An napolis. We will put will there
 "A sudden thought struck me. Give me the naval appointment. VIII par tlcularly wants to go to West Point I'd just as soon try Annapolis. That will settle everything"
 The old General and Dunlap looked at each other. The General said:
 Let's all go to dinner"
 That quick thought of mine saved me from expulsion from Annapolis no less than four different times. Gen. eraI Bragg never forgot 1t. When was in trouble at the Academy, and Lord knows, that was jften enough, he fought for me harder than he would have fought for his own son.
 'sWill Bragg went to West Point. On the day he stood the examination a telegram was sent General Bragg asking him to come to the Point al once. When he got there the surgeon called him aside and told him Bill was incurably i'll of heart disease. He told the General to take the boy nome for he would not live six months.
 'Will Bragg was found dead in h's ped three days after his return to his Wisconsin home. From that time ths old General had for me a tender and fatherly feeling. I was unfortunate enough to have to rely upon that feel ing of tenderness to save me from ex pulsion.
 you see they made me the fighting man of my class. That was befor' Congress had interfered at the Acada my. As fighting man T had to talk, the place of a man of my class whel he was to light an upper classmaIi who was larger than he. As officia 'scrapper' for my class I was fo | times fired from the Academy fol