Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1909-01-19

tang Of the thick Virginia creepers,
which made a shadowy green room of
the piazza" Birds were simply roar
Ing with Joy in the trees that over
hung the house, and Potter and / al
most quarreled because he would In
sist that some huge creatures hopping
about on the grass were robins. They
would have made three Of ours and
were much more like quails that had
split stra wberry Juice on their breasts.
BY and by Captain Collingwood ask
ed II "Lady Betty didn't want to go
and see things"
shes booked to me for Filtration
Walk" said Potter. before l could an
swer. "Three's crowd there, old
chap" On which l regret to state Cap
tain Collingwood suggested that Pot
ter should teach his own grandmother
something about nourishing herself
with an egg diet.
Anyhow. suppose you don't OBJ
ject to q rearguard for inspection Of
camp and other features Of public In
terest," he went on. and after some
hesitation Potter decided that this
would be admissible.
Mrs. Ess Kay and Sally both wanted
to lie down dts strange the fondness
American women have for putting
themselves In a horizontal position In
the daytimeD. so Mrs. Ess Kay said
that she would commission her brother
as chaperon: needn't be anxious, she
assured me. II was quite CONNIE ii
faut. As II would have worried
about Il thing like that!
was delighted to 80. because the
most interesting groups had been pass
ing the house. and 1t was difficult to
see all you wanted to through the veil
of creepers, without continually cram
ing your neck. Tall, brown faced boys
got up much like glorified Buttons.
were saunterlng about, holding sun
shades over the heads Of girls SO
young that they would have been In
short frocks with their hair down their
backs, in England. The girls were In
white muslin or pale colors, with
charming. foppy Leghorn hats trim
med with flowers. and they looked like
the daintiest, prettiest of French dolls
But l was great deal more interested
in the youths, who were the cadets
first classmen. Potter said, and would
be second lieutenants next year.
never could take much interest IN
Eton boys. the few | have seen. for
they look such children that one would
be positively ashamed to bother with
them. but the West Point cadets
Nhough one couldn't exactly take them
seriously like regularly grownup men,
perhaps) fascinated me from the very
first glance through ,ot;er's Virginia
creeper. They looked as II they
thought lot of themselves. and the
girls they were with had the air OF
encouraging them to think it won
dered what kind Of things they said to
girls and secretly longed to find out.
1t seems that in summer the cadets
leave their barracks and go into camp.
which is q time Of year that the girls
who visit West Point and those whose
fathers are stationed there like very
much We had glimpse OF the tents
from the long street of the officers
quarters. and after we had visited
few technical things In which | was
too polite to show that l was hardly
interested we strolled over to where
we could see the little white pyramids
cleaning under the stars and stripes.
had been afraid that all the cadets
would have gone away TO Filtration
Walk with girls, but to my JOY there
were plenty left in camp. On chairs
under the trees near by two or three
ladies were sitting with some white
butterfly girls, and crowd Of cadets
| were talking to them.
"There's great pal Of mine. Mrs.
Laurence" said Captain COllingwood.
"She would love to know you. Lady
Betty. Do you mind II ! introduce
you to each other"
"See here. that means We shall be
hitched up with all that lot Of cadets.
Potter objected quite GROSSLY. whats
the good of wasting time?
l hurried to say that shouldn't con-
sider it Il waste of time, that | should
be delighted to meet Mrs. Laurence
and also few sample cadets, If any
could be provided for the consumption
Of an inquiring British tourist.
Captain Collingwood thought that
one or two might be found who would
not object to the sacrifice. and five
minutes later was having more fun
than l had ever had before in my life.
Mrs. Laurence was sweet and SO
| tactful She scarcely talked to me at
all, except to ask me how | liked
America and a few Of the things peo-
pie are obliged to get of their minds
when they meet foreigner. and then
she introduced five cadets.
was terrified for minute, because
until | left home my whole (youthfuD
male experience consisted Of one
brother, three cousins and two curates.
dealt with separately and with long.
sleepy intervals between. began to
wonder how I could possibly manage
FIVE tall youths at once ard to rack my
brains for thu right kind Of conversa-
tion. But before | should have had
time to say "knife" to curats
found myself chatting away with
those cadets rs II | had grown up
with them. never once stopped to
think what should say next. ana
neither did they.
Some girls were introduced to me.
too. but luckily they didn't seem to
expect me to talk to them much, so
didn't. More and more cadets kept
coming over from camp and joining
our group and being introduced In
agreeable droves until I gave up even
trying to remember their names.
There was one. though. in the first
batch Of Ave whose name was easy to
get hold of and keep In mind because
It was Smith. Besides. he was the
best looking Of all. which made classi
flying him q real pleasure.
The girls who spoke to Mr.. Smith
called him captain" perhaps joking
ly, and I asked how he could be
captain and yet cadet unless II
meant cricket. Then he explained
that the cadets had all the differen
grades of officers. from adjutant ant
captain down to sergeant. and wanted
to know II there were any other ques
tions I would care to ask. said tina