Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1919-09-17
The Life Story Of
General John ]. Pershing
Amerlca's Great
Get Soldier
by
Harold F. Wheeler
Copyright by the Wheeler Syndicate. Inc.
Published exclusively In this territory by the
Evening Capital News).

Point and he applied himself diligent-
ly to preparations for the approaching
competitive examination for the cadet
appointment.
There is kindly, gracious old man,
a native of Gray. Maine. who tells OF
that examination; who tells, moreover.
of the incidents which led up to 1t.
Stop with me and talk with him. His
story is we'll worth while. So into the
office of old Judge Oscar F. Libby in
State street, Laclede, to take a chair
by the old mans desk. For Judge
Libby left Maine for Laclede when he
was but a boy.
Judge Libby is a delightful old man
to talk with; and he is a delightful
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 entertain my
friends, he said, as he waved me in
his courteous and dignified manner to
a chair Then he told his story.
tYou know" he said to me, before
Burrows was elected-in 1880, as l
recall, November of 1SS0-the appoint
ments to West Point were sold, either
privately or in the open market, to the
highest bidder. A travesty but true
know, for l wanted to secure an APP
pointment, and l never could, in those
days, get sufficient money together
all at one time. When at last 1 did, I
was too old. A boy can't be more than
%, you know, when he enters West
Point.
We'll. things had been going that
way as long as anyone could remem-
Der, when Burrows was elected. He
changed it all. Great old man, Joseph
II. Burrows. Great old character. He
was Baptist minister, ordained iu
1867, and pastor for many years of the
First Baptist church of Gainesville,
Missouri. He became interested in
politics and was elevated to the gem
eral assembly of Missouri. Then he
ran for congress, and one Of his pledges
to the electorate was honest appoint
ments for West Point
SIXTEEN COMPETITORS FOR
WEST POINT.
Poor old Burrows. He's dead now
died at his home, Oakland Farm, in
Gainesville, not so very long ago. But
if it hadn't been for him, John PERISH
ing wouldn't be where he is today.
John Burrows kept all his pledges
was author of the bill reducing post
age to two cents. He was elected,
and the examination, as announced,
was held in a school in Trenton.
1.-The day of the examination, John
and a number Of other boys-I think
there were 17-were there. A commit
tee of FIVE persons. as I recall, was Sc
lected to grade the examination pa
N at n
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 Higginbotham.
But to decide which of those pa
pers was the best, the committee could
not. The five men tried and tried.
Each time they went over the papers
the result was the same. 1t was a case
of 'whittle de whit" as the old judge
| characterized it, between the two
boys.
AT last one of the committeeman
hit upon a scheme.
HE walked over to the blackboard
in the schoolroom where the exami-
nation had been held and wrote on the
board a sentence-the same sentence
twice. 1t was this"
The old Judge paused. He leaned
over his desk, pushed back his broad
b, immed, soft black hat from a litter
CT papers which 1t covered, found a
clean sheet in the middle, then bor-
rowed my pencil.
Like this" he continued, carefully
writing a sentence-the same sentence
twice--on the sheet before him.
read over his shoulder. He had writ
ten these words:
II love to run"
The old judge divided the two
sentences by circles drawn about the
words into their component gramat-
ical parts before he spoke again.
John and Higginbotham," he re-
sumed at last, were called back into
the room and told they must parse
the sentence written on the board &C.
cording to the rules Of Clark's gram
mar.
HOW PERsHINo WON.
1.-THE boys started. John parsed ths
sentence as I have drawn the first one, ;
and the old Judge indicated the sen.
tence at the top of the sheet before us
~ the subject, love the predicate
| to rum the object of the verb. Hig.
ginbotham parsed the SENTENCE ant