“The best description of cadet life and also of the workings of the academy.”—WM. WARD, _clerk in charge (for the last 60 years) of Cadet Records at West Point_. “Nothing quite like it in this country.”—(London, Eng.) _Army and Navy Gazette_. “A complete book.”—(Orchard Lake, Mich.) _Adjutant_. “Interesting reading.”—_Chicago Times-Herald._ “About West Point, how to get there, etc.”—_Indianapolis News._ “Just the thing.”—(Atlanta, Ga.) _Southern Star_. “Of value to guardsmen.”—_The_ (Columbus, O.) _National Guardsman_. “Interesting reading even for laymen.”—(New York) _Godey’s Magazine_. “Should be in both normal school and village libraries.”—_Cortland_ (New York) _Evening Standard_. Handsome cloth. 12mo. 315 pages. Illustrated. $1.50 [Illustration: THE AUTHOR] CADET LIFE AT WEST POINT BY COL. HUGH T. REED, LIEUT. U. S. ARMY, _Late Inspector General of Indiana_. AUTHOR OF _Military Science and Tactics, Etc._ ILLUSTRATED THIRD EDITION. RICHMOND, INDIANA: IRVIN REED & SON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COPYRIGHT, 1896 AND 1911, BY HUGH T. REED. Dedicated _TO THE DEAR GIRLS WHO ADORE THE MILITARY, ONE OF WHOM HAVING PAID THE PENALTY OF HER ADMIRATION, IS NOW MY SUPERIOR OFFICER._ PREFACE I believe it to be well established that the mental habits are fully as strong as the physical habits of man. That is, thought moves in grooves day after day and day after day as walks in life do. The habit of retrospectant thought fastened itself upon me several years ago, and the habit confined itself largely and almost irresistibly to my life at West Point. My reflections became almost realisms; I was to all intents and purposes oblivious of the intervening years; oblivious of accumulated griefs and sorrows, of successes and of contemporaneous ambitions—I was indeed a boy again, and at West Point, living over and over and over again all the scenes leading up to and creating my life at the Nation’s Military School. In one of these moods, it occurred to me, entirely for my own gratification, and possibly to dispossess myself of the habit of thinking upon the subject, to write a little sketch of those days. I became interested in the work, and the pages grew in number as memory served me with inspiration for my narrative, until I had at last completed what might be called a volume of reminiscences.