laid down his pointer, cleaned his board, and took his seat; but if the instructor was not satisfied with the recitation, he asked such questions as he deemed proper to draw out, if possible, further information on the subject, and when through, said, “That’ll do.” This drawing out process is necessary with plebes, until they learn what is required of them in the way of recitations. No communication between cadets is allowed in the section room. When the time expired the instructor said, “That’ll do, gentlemen; section’s dismissed.” If the bugle was sounded before all had recited, those at the board who were ready to recite and had all necessary work on the board, were marked the same as if they had recited. The cadets filed out of the room, got their caps and “fell in,” then marched to the area where the line was formed and there the section was dismissed. The mark for a perfect recitation is a 3, 2.5 is a good mark, 2 is fair, 1.5 is medium, 1 poor, .5 very poor, and a zero a complete failure. Recitations go on every day except Saturday afternoons and Sundays. On Monday the marks of the previous week were posted so that the cadets could see them. The instructor never told the cadets what marks he gave them, and he could not excuse a cadet from recitation. A cadet who was sick enough to require it was taken into the hospital, or by the surgeon excused from reciting, but a cadet excused from reciting had to go to and remain in the section room, and there report to the instructor that he was excused. Nothing is gained by not reciting, because every cadet must make satisfactory recitations and pass the examinations[31] in January and June or be found deficient. At the end of the fifth or sixth week, and at times after that, transfers from one section to another were made, and some cadets were sent up and others down to other sections. By Christmas, the plebe class was pretty well dissipated by transfers. Days, weeks and months passed with a firm, steady grind. In my day up at 5, but now 5:45 a. m., and nothing but study, recitations and drill till 9:30 p. m., except during the short half hour for recreation after each meal, the welcome half holiday on Saturdays and the change of routine on Sundays. No visitors at the Point, no hops, no nothing but hard study and drill to look forward to until the next June. It is true that Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s are always acceptable days to a cadet, but he generally eats so much turkey then, that he receives a poor mark at recitations the next day. Not long before examination the instructor selects as many topics as there are cadets in his section and writes each topic on a separate piece of paper, turns them face down, mixes them, and then numbers them; number one being for the first cadet in the section, number two for the second, and so on, or otherwise mixes them so that no partiality be shown on examination.