One of the guns of the sea-coast battery was a very large one, the diameter of the bore being twenty inches. One day at drill at this battery, while at “rest,” one of the cadets, who was a little fellow, crawled into the bore of this big gun. After getting in a certain distance the more he tried to get out the farther in he went, hence he had to be pulled out by the heels. The instructor, appreciating the situation, threatened to report him for being off limits.
Cadets are taught photography, and on pleasant May days second classmen can often be seen with cameras taking views of the different buildings and of the many pretty sights about the Point.
One pleasant afternoon in May a classmate and I were walking along Professor’s Row, near the north gate, and we saw three pretty young ladies, daughters of Professor W⸺r, sitting on their porch, so we stopped for a chat. The ladies said that they would play the piano and sing for us if we would go in the house. My friend declined the invitation, because he was too near found on demerits to risk being caught off cadet limits, and we did not have a permit. Up to that time I had had but few demerits and had been lucky in never having been caught off limits, so I decided to accept the invitation. When there was no officer in sight I went in, and passed a merry hour with the young ladies. But when I came out an officer saw me, and reported me for being off cadet limits. I wrote an explanation, stating where I was at the time, and that was all. “Off Limits” is a serious offense, especially in an old cadet, and besides receiving five or six demerits, I was given six “extras” officially designated as “Saturday afternoon punishments.” This I did not relish at all, especially as I had never had any before, but I learned to my sorrow what an extra meant, and I had ample time to ponder over the gravity of my offense as I paced to and fro, across the area of barracks, carrying my rifle “just so,” from 2 p. m. till ten minutes before dress parade at sunset. I never till then fully realized the length of the days in May and June. When it came time to go to camp again I had walked only four of the six extras, and as there are no “extras” in camp, for the remaining two I was given two weeks “confinement,” i. e., I had to be in my tent all the time for the first two weeks in my first class camp, except, of course, when absent from it on duty or by special permission.
Just before this Academic year closed my class selected its quota of managers for the coming summer hops, and also all of the managers for the hop that my class gave to the graduating class. The invitations and programs for these dances were sent to friends, and they began to arrive with the Board of Visitors and old graduates who came to attend the Alumni meeting and dinner in the bachelor officers’ part of the Mess Hall.
Cullum Memorial Hall is now used for all hops and the alumni meetings are usually held in it, and luncheon is served afterwards from the Officers’ Mess, next door.
TO CLASS OF ’72 FROM ’73.
THE PLEASURE OF YOUR COMPANY IS REQUESTED AT A HOP TO BE GIVEN TO THE Graduating Class on June 14th.