This rigid code of discipline to which the cadet is subjected for four years and the influence of the honor system in the Corps develop in him to a high degree the sentiment of duty. At West Point duty comes first. The idea is that when a cadet is given a task to perform he will approach it with a strength of purpose that never gets weary or tired. It teaches him to make his resolve so strong that he can listen to the murmurings of the ignorant, to their sophistry, receive their insults and slanders, conscious that the ideals for which he stands will eventually triumph. It is the sentiment that will sustain him not only in time of war, for then he has the sympathy of the people, but in time of peace when the average layman who does not understand the character of his work condemns it as an activity that produces nothing. The result of four years’ immersion in the atmosphere at West Point is the molding of the cadet’s character. When he entered the Academy he was just a boy, fresh from the hands of his parents and still malleable, but when his course has been completed under the painstaking care of his foster mother, his standards have been crystallized and he has developed into a man of courage, intellect, and honor. And when graduation day arrives, and West Point hands each man his diploma, with it she gives her stamp of approval and acknowledges her willingness to entrust to his keeping the cherished traditions of the Military Academy. CHAPTER XII SPIRITUAL INFLUENCES