THE BATTALION.
7
expansion of our higher faculties, and we
shall become day by day more nearly
what our Maker intended we should be,
and we will then be enable to realize
that our castles are built upon rocks.
A. H.
A Day as a Cadet.
Trata, tarata, ring out the notes of the
lively reveille in the bugle’s boisterous
complaint of “I can’t wake ’em up !”
Lights flash out and in a moment w T here
before everything was dark and silent,
all is now bustle and excitement. Cadets
are heard calling to one another or wak
ing up their room mates., and in a few
minutes we see them descending the
stairs and coming out in front of the
building to fall in for reveille roll call.
A cadet at reveille is a very different
being from t.ie one we see at dress pa
rade. In fact, he is hardly awake yet,
and his sleepy appearance, together with
an old hat, an overcoat instead of a
blouse, and no collar or tie, go far
toward transforming him. Very little
talking is heard, and that is in a sub
dued tone. Most of them are lying
down on the gallery, or, if it is a cold
morning they are crowded up in one cor
ner trying to keep warm. The first ser
geant perhaps, and one or two others,
may be in their places waiting for the
“fall in !” At last it is heard and they
quickly take their places, the inevitable
“lates” coming after them.
The roll call is soon over, and it is
then that the cadet’s daily life begins.
Within the next twenty minutes he
must get ready for breakfast, sweep out,
pile his bunk, and thoroughly police his
room and get everything in readiness for
the day. Breakfast call is sounded then
and the battallion is marched down to
breakfast and there he manages to make
a hearty meal of “reg” and “axle-grease,”
“grab-all,” “sawdust,” “big nigger,”
“shot-gun,” “winchester,” cush and
other things that have received appro
priate names from former battallions,
and have been handed down along with
other customs and traditions of the
cadets.
It is queer and often amusing how
slang is used to express different phases
of college life. To be reported is to be
“rammed,” to be excused is to “ride
a gim,” a “goose egg” is the term used
for a zero, to get one is to make a “bust,” ^
to be perfect is to “knock his eye out
for a hundred,” to be a favorite is to
“have the bird” and so on through.
The battallion is marched directly
from the mess hall to morning chapel,
and^strangely enough they seem to dis
like this more than any other duty, and
hardly waiting for the amen they rush
out as soon as it is over. Guard mount
ing is being sounded as we leave the
chapel, and a few minutes later the sick
call is sounded. Guard mounting, is
ever a beautiful ceremony. The polished
arms gleaming brightly in the morning
sunlight, the quick movements, the
various manoeuvers, the salutes and
reports to the different officers, all com
bine to make it interesting and impres
sive, even more so than dress parade,
though not on so large a scale. Some
who are not busy with other duties are
looking on, but by far the greater part
are studying.
Study call is sounded at 8 o’clock, and
from then until 4 o’clock, when release
is sounded, or half past 4, when practices
cease, lessons and practices come in
almost unbroken succession, excepting