When the tents are not prepared for inspection, however, cadets may make down the cots and rest. How wonderfully refreshing it is to rest! to throw oneself down on the blankets and forget the heat, the weary march, the grime, the dust, and abandon oneself to the delights of the imagination, dreaming of the sweetness of the past or building vast plans for the future! How precious to the cadet is each moment of repose snatched from the busy day! But it is in the morning that the real longing for sleep becomes most acute.
Every morning at 5:20, the solitary boom of the reveille gun is echoed throughout the hills, rudely dissipating the fog of unconsciousness that envelops the sleeping cadets. Little by little the deathlike slumber of the camp is broken. Indistinct sounds, a sigh, a yawn, float gently out upon the air; drugged forms twist and roll uncertainly beneath the mosquito bars, as if struggling in a bewildered sort of way to preserve the pleasing heaviness that charms their bodies.
Suddenly the air is torn by the shrill garrulous fifes and the lusty rub-a-dub-dub of the drums. The reveille march has begun. Around the camp the “Hell Cats” march, up one street, down another like demons possessed. The shrieking sounds of the fifes and the deep rolling noise of the drums brusquely rout the stillness of the dawn, while the semi-conscious forms toy with danger, beguiling themselves that there is plenty of time until the assembly. Presently from near the general parade the familiar warning notes of Yankee Doodle change the camp to a place of intense animation. Up go mosquito bars and in a twinkling, almost as if by magic, tents disgorge their sleepy occupants, hastily and feverishly buttoning their uniforms as they run to their places in ranks to the fading rolls of the drum corps.
After reveille it takes but a few minutes to police the tents and perform the necessary ablutions before breakfast. The drills commence within a half-hour after the morning meal and continue until noon. They are of various kinds, the majority of which will be described in the chapter entitled “Lessons from Mars,” but I will speak of the plebe’s work in his first camp, since it is somewhat different.
The physical exercises given to the new cadet in “Beast Barracks” are continued in camp. In addition, he is sent to the Gymnasium for swimming, where a professional instructor is present to see that no one drowns, and to teach the various strokes. As many of the cadets are adept swimmers upon entrance, they are tested, and those found qualified are excused from further attendance. The men who cannot swim, the real “land lubbers,” attend daily until they are proficient.
The most diverting instruction, however, in plebe camp is the dancing lesson. A civilian professor spends the summer at West Point to instruct the fourth classmen in the Terpsichorean art. Every morning at hour intervals, squads of cadets carrying their pumps march across the parade to Cullum Hall. Here they remove their coats, put on their pumps, and line themselves along the wall. The waltz step is first taught as the basis of all dancing, then later the two-step, and, since the new dances have come upon us, the fox-trot and one-step are rehearsed toward the end of the course. The dancing lesson is not open to visitors. Once upon a time it was, but long cadets, short cadets, fat cadets, lean cadets, awkward and graceful ones, all tiptoeing, “one- and two- and threeing” around the room like a lot of coy young hippopotami with compass bearings lost, became a famous sight for tourists, who wanted to enjoy a good laugh. How could anyone learn to dance in the presence of a giggling crowd! But the crowd wasn’t to blame! Here in one corner was a little slender chap delicate as a reed, perspiring in his efforts to steer his six-foot partner, a regular steam roller, through the mazes of Professor Vesay’s old-fashioned waltz. Again, all over the room, self-conscious boys in white shirt-sleeves were in a bewildered state trying to execute the Professor’s directions:
“Right foot in second position—glide and cut!” Nowadays an officer excludes all sightseers during the lesson.
The instruction of the plebe in infantry drill continues uninterruptedly, for it is essential that he should not spoil the appearance of the rest of the battalion. Together with swimming, dancing, and infantry drill, his morning is completely occupied. After the midday dinner, he is assembled in squad for instruction in hygiene and guard duty, or he may be required to spend his time working upon his equipment, his brasses, his bayonet, and rifle.
Very little social diversion is permitted to the plebe, because he is usually awkward in appearance and unfamiliar with military customs and deportment. Consequently he considers that his life is excessively hard, to him unnecessarily so; but as I have observed cadets for thirteen years I am convinced of the wisdom of holding them in a distinct class for one year. Then they emerge from the cocoon of plebedom as dazzling yearling butterflies.
To afford instruction in guard duty the camp is surrounded by sentinels. A quota of cadets from each company marches on guard immediately after parade in the evening. There are three reliefs for each of the ten posts: three corporals, a sergeant, and two officers of the guard, and an officer of the day. The guard is under the control and supervision of the officer in charge, who is one of the Tactical officers. Each sentinel walks two hours and rests four, so that during the twenty-four hours the cadet walks eight hours. The effect of this duty upon the cadet is lasting, for it teaches him the fatigue a sentinel experiences and prevents him, when an officer, from demanding too much of his men. The borders of the camp are divided into posts, numbered from 1 to 10.