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Transcription
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his heart in preparing. Sans peur et sans reproche, a more fearless and gallant officer never lived, barring none. What is West Point's secret, one is impelled to ask, in producing such men? Does it produce them, or does it merely attract them?
It is curious now to recall that almost exactly two years ago, in the days immediately preceding our plunge into the maelstrom of the Great War, there was a formidable movement in the legislature to abolish military instruction in the University. So belligerent and influential were the pacifists of that day that the outcome of the agitation could not be foretold. Notwithstanding the loss of Federal revenue the abolition would have involved, they seemed to have an even chance.
The agitation was short-lived, but it was not without disagreeable echoes on the campus. Undisciplined youths, many of whom doubtless have since died gloriously for their country, conceived it to be their duty to revile the Military Department and to undermine its morale. It was a bad quarter an hour Captain Parker, whose three years' period of service was approaching its close. Never were trials less deserved. In truth, they did not last long, nor would they be worth recording were it not to chronicle a moral victory of discipline and self-control which, to those who care for such things, will remain undimmed even in the presence of imperishable deeds on the fields of France. Not once was Captain Parker betrayed by impatience under extreme provocation into saying or doing anything unworthy of his profession which he would afterwards have wished unsaid or undone. He was the soul of courtesy and of honor. He set the men an example of single-minded devotion to duty that was much appreciated, not the least because it was wholly unconscious and unintended. In 1817, Captain Parker was transferred to Fort Snelling, and he is now at Stanford University. His successor was Col. Roberts, who has since died.
The roll of West Pointers who have been among us is an imperishable one. They have left behind the delightful memories, and, let us hope, something of the best traditions
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