Omaha daily bee., 1919-09-17

There is 4 kindly, gracious old
man, a native OF Gray, Me-, who
tells OF the West Poin. examina-
ton. His story is we'll worth while.
So into the office OF old Judge
Oscar r. Libby. in State street,
Laclede, TO take a chair by the old
mans desk.
Judge Libby is a delightful old
man to talk with; and he is a de-
lightfnl old man to look at. with
his white hair and white mustache
and white goAtee.
Retired now. but keep the old
office sos I'll have place to en-
terrain my friends" he said. as he
waved me in his courteous aud dig
nifird manner 20 chair. Then he
told his story.
Sold Appointments.
You know" he said to me, be
fore Burrows was elected in 1880,
as recall, November OF lS80-the
appointments to West Point were
sold. either privately or in the open
market. to the highest bidder. A
travcsty. but true. know. for !
wanted to secure an appointment
and never could. in those days, get
sufiicien. money together all at one
time, When at last did, | was
too old. A boy can't be more than
p, you know. when he enters West
Point. !
We'll, things had been going that
way as long as anyone could re-
member. when Burrows was elected
He changed it all, great old man.
Joseph n. Burrows. Great old char
acter. lie was Baptist minister
ordained in 1867, and pastor for
many years Of the First Baptist
church of Gainesville. Mo. He be-
came interested in politics and was
elevated to the general assembly Of
Missouri. Then he ran for con-
gross, and one OF his pledges to
the electorate was honest appoint
rlents for West Point
Had Sixteen Competitors.
The day Of the examination John
and lumber of other boys-l think
there were H-were there. A COM
mittce Of five persons, as I recall,
was selected to grade the cxamina
ton papers. The papers were COM
pleted at last and turned in to the
committee. Grading Of the papers
started. and one by one, until only
two remained, they were discarded.
The two left were those of John
pershing and a boy named Higgin-
botham.
But to decide which OF those pa
pers was the best, the committee
could ron The five men tried and
tried. Each time they went over the
papers the result was the same. 1t
$ was a case of white de whit as
the old Judge characterized il, be
tween the two boys.
AT last one of the committeeman
hit upon a scheme.
"He walked over to the black
board in the schoolroom where the
examination had been held and
wrote on the board a sentence-the
same sentence twice. 1t was this:
~ love to run
John and Higginbotham were
called back into the room and told
they must parse the sentence writ
ten on the. board according to the
rules Of Clark's grammar.
How Pershing Won.
The boys started. John parsed
the sentence, Il the subject, love
he predicate, to run the object of
the verb. Higginbotham parsed the
sentence, Il the subject, love the
predicate, to rum an infnitive phrase
qualifying the verb.
John Won"
Thus it was by the clever analysis
of a sentence, John Pershing Sc
cured his appointment as a cadet to
the United States Military academy
at West Point.
Day in Trenton.
The day in Trenton was perhaps
The most momentous in the life OF
Gen. John Joseph Pershing.
Almost 80 years afterward. brig
a dies general in the United States
army, commander of the Depart
ment Of Mindanao and governor Of
Moro province in the Philippine
islands, as president Of his class at
West Point-to which much ,envied
position he was elected his first year
IN the academy and which he has
held continuously ever since-the
class OF 'S6. wrote a letter of greet
ing from his,/headquarters at Zam-