The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-05-23

| IL, TO the smashing or a few win
dows and the breaking OF many
regulations.
The class of 1880 wanted In some
way to mark the incoming OF the year
resolved to have a celebration at the
stroke OF twelve at midnight OF the
New Year, January /, 1880. Now this
AFFAIR at the academy, instead OF be-
ing mere matter OF taking a cannon
on the roof and firing it off. was really
terrific outbreak Of noise. confusion
and regulation breaking, Some mem
bers OF the corps had been given a
Christmas leave of three days, and
on their return from New York they
brought to the academy large guam
tity OF fireworks, which they hid in
convenient place after they landed at
the dock. Later these fireworks were
transferred to barracks and hid in
mattresses and from that time until
New Year, great many cadets slept
on veritable mines.
Fired or All the Guns.
A detachment OF cadets tolled of
for the purpose went down to the river
early on the night of December 81 and
loaded all the seacoast guns, the siege
battery gun, and old smooth-bore guns
of Battery Knox. At ten minutes be-
fore midnight 20 cadets LETT barracks
and made their way to the river bat
teries. At the stroke of II they be-
gan pulling the lanyard and 1t was
roar and boom and tear" from every
gun along the plateau's front. The
echoes were awakened far up the Hud-
son to Newberg and down to Sing
Sing. 1t sounded as II the post were
under bombardment, and in a twink
ling the whole post was up, officers
running here and there In half walked
condition, not knowing just what had
happened. Across the parade ground
came the veteran General Schofield in
his uniform, but with something white
showing which proved that he had not
completely tucked in his clothes in his
hurry to get dressed
simultaneously with the lombard
ment every window in barracks was
opened and forth came fiery sky rock
cts, roman candles and all the other
similar devices known to the ingenu-
members of the plebe class had
DEVILS fiddles which had been manu-
featured under cover. Round shot were
rolled down the iron-bound stairs, and
the uproar and the firing and confu-
sion were, in modern slang, some
thing fierce"
The whole corps was put under ar
rest and later every man had all his
privileges taken away from him, and
they were kept away for five months.
English Sparrow as Food.
One of the expert biologists of
the department of agriculture, Mr..
Ned Dearborn. says that the Eng
lish sparrow Is pest, a thing
which hardly needed repetition, and
that one way to get rid of them Ia to
eat them.
Mr.. Dearborn has issued a bulletin
telling how to trap English sparrows.
how to shoot them and how to cook
and eat them. He says that sparrows
as food compare favorably with the
best kinds of smaller game. Years
ago some one tried to induce the peo-
pie of the congested districts in the
cities to eat English sparrows.
One can learn from the agricultural
department If the members should
choose to write about it or tell about
IL that there are scores Of animals
In the United States which no one
thinks of eating and yet which are
perfectly delicious food when properly
cooked. Can anyone imagine a man
eating a skunk? And yet a skunk
properly prepared is by no means to
be despised. 1t is said that the edi-
bility of the skunk was learned by an |
experimenter who noticed that great |
horned owls were very fond of skunks |
and that they would catch them, kill |
them and eat them In preference to |
rabbit. So one experimenter tried the |
skunk and found that the meat was
better than that Of the rabbit.
A great many people know that the
muskrat is good eating. The govern
ment's scientists found this out long |
time ago and they have written bulle-
tins about the muskrat as food. 1t has
been found that the name rat destroys
peoples appetites for this creature.
In the markets of Baltimore and oc-
casionally in Washington muskrats
are sold In large quantities, but are
they called muskrats? No. they are
called marsh rabbits.
Snakes Good to Eat.
Some men squirm at the thought OF
eating cells, while others eat them and
consider them the best OF fish. If an
eel, why not a snake? Down in the
southwest rattlesnakes have been
eaten frequently with no bad results.
The flesh OF the RATHER is said to be
white and of good flavor. An army Of
ficer who was also a great ornitholo
gist. Captain Bendre, once was given
some rattlesnake to eat. He did not
know what it was but pronounced it
mighty good. Later he was told what
he had eaten and although in his
h. ho1 lnJ |