Year: 1871




story ofan Engine sczzIe.


The Army and Navy Journal publish
es from the "West Point Scrap-book, p"
now in the publishers hands, the fol-
lowing amusing extract:


"Among the widest men in my class
was Cadet G.. His piopensities for
deviltry were unparelled, us was also
his good luck in never getting caught
in any scrape. At the same time he
was very stndious; always In the first
section in everything; and when we
graduated he received commission In
the Corps of Engineers.


"While we were second classmen,
and nearly crazed with 'azimuths and
'lunar culminations, no wonder that
we should have our 'looney periods, ,
and many night after taps did We
rout out the officer in charge with our
disturbing forces


After puzzling our brains during
study hours in the evening, over our
"phil lesson, some dozen of us would
casually meet on the porch af the bar
racks after taps, and. endeayor calmly
to discuss some knotty question in the
lessonl but all in vain, for G., backed
by 'eDad," and three or four others,
would suddenly send a ten-pin ball
(taken frorl the bowling aney), bound
ing along the porch among us, at the
same time setting up tremendous yell.
We could not do less than return the
ball, and the result would be regular
"phil riot, which was only ended by
the sudden appearance of the officer
in charge. Occasionally for change he
would fill cold Patrick's iron buckets
with coal, and then gently roll them
noise to wake the "seyen sleepers. J"
One night G. suggested that we should
all buckle on our sabres, letting them
bang down, and then dividing up into
parties of three or four, go quietly up
to the cock-loft, of the various divi-
sions, and come tearing down the iron
staircases, our sabres clanking, and all
yelling at the top of our voices.


This succeeded beyond our widest
an.;~ir--.;v--s,fort the part. of which 1
vas one, had just rounded the staircase
on the second flight in the fourth di-
vision, when we ran into and almost
knocked down Colonel K, who was
making a night inspection.


"We four received our merited share
of 'de-merit and 'extras,' but G.,
the prime mover in the affair, was not
caught.


'We never failed to awaken the Off
Ger in charge, and generally We were
successful in not getting 'hived.' [
remember one night In October, 1865,
there was lunar eclipse about eleven
o'clock, and as we were all heavy on
lunar eclipses, we were in duty bound
to see the thing come of.


Full half of my class were out
quietly looking at the moon, when sud
denly from the top and sides OF the old
dial stone in the centre of the area,
there appeared one of the finest dis
plays of fireworks ever witnessed. 1
am of the opinion that / should have
enjoyed it more had it not been for the
frequent explosions, and the dropping
of bell-buttons among us. AS usual
on all occasions of ceremony, the Off
Ger in charge put in an appearance,
and did not stay to see the result, but
L learned afterwards that the display
was the combined efforts of G.,
Dad, and Tip, who had made use of
some powder cartridges that Dad had
hived at artillery drill, and had manu-
factured some diabolical composition,
using lot of bell-buttons filled with
powder for shells. 1t was a
complete success, and no one
was caught. But AL this has
nothing to do with the engine nozzle.
Yes, it has too; for these little pleas
antries were merely ordnt couriers OF
the affair with the engine nozzle. For
about month we had been engaged
almost every night in some kind Of dew
iltry, and it seemed as though we had
made use of every expedient that it was
possible to devise for the annoyance Of
the officer In charge. It was a critical
moment. One night, as usual, about
twelve o'clock, we were 'owling around
in drawers, slippers and dressing gowns,
seriously meditating q night assault on
the cadet officer of the day, when G.
suddenly suggested that we should
break into the engine house back of the
guard room, and hive one of the noz
/ zles, and then blow the church call in
the sally port. G. thought that il
might possibly inspire some of the pro
fessors' families with the idea that the
millennium had come, and that the
angel Gabriel was blowing his last
trump. It wasn't long before we had
picked the lock, and found one of the
nozzles belonging to the fire engine.


We fastened the door again, and pro
ceeded in body toward the sally port
There was quite discussion as to who
knew the church cell best; G. being
a minister's son had the preference
The nozzle was too heavy for one tc
hold and blow at the same time so one
of us, forget who, rested the nozzle
on his shoulder, and G. filled his
lungs and begun.


ssGreat heavens what a solemn
sound and such an echo! 1t was
simply grand. G. tried it again
It would have filed sold Bentz with
envy, could he have heard those mourn
full strains. tit


"On the principle that enough was
as good al feast and furthermore
with ar eye to using our improvised
bugle again on the next propitiou'
night, we refrained from any further
refrain, and slowly retired, hiding the
nozzle under pile of coal in one OF the
cellars.


"The next morning there was thu
tallest kind of row. The man wht
had charge of the engine house report
ed to the commandant that the engine
room had been broken into and one o.
the nozzles stolen. 1t was OF no us'
to ask questions, or to hunt for it. M
one knew anything about it. We KEEP
low for two or three nights, until th'
row had blown over, when we went out
aud G. blew the church-call agail
in the sally port, calmly and deiber