It is to the more serious and inexorable side of his training that the cadet must now turn. Life in barracks is more sedate, more formal, more cold than the free existence of camp where he and his comrades were living close to Nature. The time has arrived to renounce the pleasure of sleeping in the open, of breathing the fragrant out-of-doors, of living in the midst of scenery that appeals to every æsthetic faculty. It is in the rooms of barracks that the next nine months must be passed, the severe unadorned rooms whose bareness, however, is forgotten in the ineffable sweetness of the friendship of one’s roommate. At no place, perhaps, are closer friendships formed than at West Point. They are not of the whirlwind kind so common elsewhere today, that sweep one off his feet for the time being. Nor are they like some great roaring wind that shakes one’s nature to its depths and then leaves him bruised and torn, but wide awake at last, to spend its force in other directions. Rather are they friendships of slower growth, but deep and sincere, belonging more to a mature age than to the irresponsible years of a cadet when his enthusiasm, his likes and dislikes, seem to be the only things necessary to foster. The difficulties of his studies, the homesickness, the fatigue of the drills, the irksomeness of the routine, are all lightened by the intimacy with his chum, by the smile of sympathy, or the word of encouragement that greets him at all times. It is a great privilege to live in close contact with a human being and be allowed a glimpse into his soul. It compensates for all the stony paths of life, for all hardships, and sends one forth to his duties with a feeling of joy and gladness, strong in heart and thankful to God. In every room in barracks dwell two chums, each the “wife” of the other. The increased number of cadets and the negligence of Congress to provide extra barracks have caused the introduction of Mormonism, for in some rooms are three chums, each with _two_ “wives.” The most striking feature about the rooms is their plainness. Here the cadet is “allowed not more than nature needs,” or scarcely more, for an inventory of the furniture discloses two iron cots, one iron washstand, two plain wooden tables, two wooden chairs, and two steel clothespresses. The walls and floors are bare, for the Regulations prohibit rugs, carpets, pictures, placards, banners, or any other adornment. Upon the plain black iron mantel in the middle is a mirror, flanked by black tin frames containing the hours of instruction and a time schedule designed to indicate at all times the whereabouts of the occupants of the room. Not to have the hours of instruction correctly posted is a military offense. No matter where the cadet is, at recitation, barber shop, church, lecture, hospital, library, his card must so indicate. In addition, a small inexpensive clock may be kept on the mantel.