Rocky Mountain College - Yellowstone / Poly Yearbook (Billings, MT)

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THE POLY person with the pride of his company near his heart so it is well if our cadet has learned that to be a good soldier one must be cleanly in person and in quarters. No sooner is inspection complete than breakfast call is ,sounded and the cadet hurries to take his place with the mess to which he has been assigned. Returning from breakfast, he has but a few minutes to himself before school call is blown and from 8:00 to 12:00 his time is well filled with recitations and classes. Many different courses are offered at the institution and though we might enjoy to linger here visiting, in turn, each department but as that which is offered may be read elsewhere in this book, it will suffice to say that the subjects taught are the practical every day problems with which men and women living in this Matter-of-Fact age will have to wrestle. The classes themselves are small, insuring to each student special and individual attention. At 11:20, the cadet again falls into ranks and is marched to the chapel by the sergeant of his detail. This chapel, he finds different from many that he may have seen or what he had expected to find. The exercise is a pleasant one to the average boy, a few songs are sung and among them he is bound to find his favorites, a word of prayer is offered, important announcements made and then, as is often the case, the opportunity is presented to hear some great man of whom he has often read. Billings is visited frequently by distinguished men and women, and our president never fails to extend to such an invitation to meet with us. Since the ideals and purposes of the Polytechnic have reached far, the hearts of great men are always open to us and our needs, and the invitation to speak a word to our boys and girls nearly always accepted. Following chapel, the companies form under their respective captains or if later in the year under the commandant of cadets for an hour's drill. Up to this time, each cadet has been pretty much himself, but with the last notes of Assembly, he surrenders his individuality, he is no longer himself, he is one element in a complex unit, the perfect working of every one of which is necessary to the perfection of the wholeg he must obey orders, he must learn to respect his officers and himself, he must sacrifice his own personal feelings for the more important good of the many, he must train his muscles to obey his will, and his every movement must be as systematic and well-timed as a part of a complex but perfect piece of machinery. On Saturdays, he is often taken on a forced march or extended order drill and it is then with his blanket and a day's rations in his pack, he learns the many lessons of a soldier in the field, an experience he thoroughly enjoys. At 12 :30, the not unpleasant notes of Soupy strike his ear and it is

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THE POLY A DAY AT THE POLYTECHNIC It is a day filled to the brim with the many details that go to the making of the American boy into the citizen of tomorrow. It is for him to carry the torch we pass on and if he is to give a good accounting of himself, he must be trained as only methods such as ours can accomplish. He must be initiated into the regularity and punc- tuality of military efficiency, he must be taught along the same practical and every-day lines as he will meet in the problems of life, he must live in a patriotic atmosphere, he must grow in grace amid Christian surroundings. Such is the life of every student at the Polytechnic-not at stated intervals, nor appointed times, but every day and every hour. The student's day begins at 6:30 in the morning when, thru the silent barrack halls, the shrill, clear tones of Reveille call the sleepy boy from his dreams, out of bed he scrambles, has- tily Jumping into his trousers, blouse and shoes and within ten minutes an- swers to his name at the first roll call of the day. He is then put thru the setting-up exercises, the best form of gymnastics known. In the average public school or non-military academy a few men, who happen to possess strength or promise, are developed into athletes, every effort of the institution is brought to bear upon these favored few to turn out a great athletic team and as a result some very nearly perfect specimens of physical man are incidentally made. But what of the average lad, who possesses no such promise or who has no desire to go out for the team? He is left to shift for himself, neglected! In a military school, it is quite different. Every cadet can and must take the setting-up exercises. There is no partiality, no exception, each receives his share and instead of the favored few, we have a battalion of cadets rugged in health and surprising in strength. Moreover, the exercises being the same as those used at West Point, are especially adapted for developing a military bearing. They throw the shoulders back where they belong, straighten the spine, and our cadet, wh en he moves-walks like a man. After fifteen minutes of hard drill, the companies are dismissed and each cadet hastens to his room, makes his bed, sweeps his room, washes himself and otherwise makes his morning toilet, and then, just before breakfast the captain of his company inspects his room to see that all is clean and in order for the day. That captain is usually a very particular

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THE POLY with eagerness that he hastens when dismissed from the company formation to the mess squad. He marches to the dining hall, where a plain, simple, but healthful dinner greets him and may it be said of him that his hours of study and drill have given him an appetite to do it full justice. Dinner over, he returns to his quarters where for half an hour he is uninterrupted unless he is on the day's roster for guard duty. But guard duty comes to every cadet once in so many days depending upon the size of his company. If on duty, he immediately gives himself and his equipment the last few touches of perfection for it is a careful inspection the commander of the guard will make and it behooves our cadet to make the best possible showing. He falls in with his detail on the company parade ground where the Top sergeant gives it a most rigid inspection before turning it over to the ranking non-com, to be marched to the parade ground where with the detail from the other company goes through the thrilling military ceremony known as guard mount. He thus becomes a part of the police force of the garrison for the day and as such responsible for the perfect discipline for the battalion. What a splendid training it is that develops the boy along lines testing at once his responsibility, his resourcefulness and his integrity and moreover instilling into his very being that respect for law and order that will guide him throughout life! Guard mount over and the new officer of the day saluted and the old guard relieved of duty, the guard falls out and School Call again reminds him of the other phase of the day's work. He returns to his class room and recitations continue until 4:10. Then comes the hour, which, to our American boy, means the most. It is the period when he lays aside his natty uniform to don athletic togs and with the heart of one whose spirit has already been imprisoned in too narrow confines, he rushes to the football field or baseball diamond, there to try in friendly competition with chums and class- mates for a place on the team. For two hours, he puts into this work the full energy and devotion that only youth can spare-to win for himself that coveted honor of wearing the school's athletic emblem upon his sweater. Recall finally draws him from these endeavors and after a hasty shower bath, he again slips into his uniform as the bugle summons Fall in on the battalion line. This time to take his part in what will some day come to be the sweetest and dearest sentiment of his school days--to stand at attention as over the quiet of the closing day floats the clear sweet notes of Retreat as slowly from its airy staff The Stars and Stripes is lowered and the sun sinks to rest behind the western mountains now mellowed in their canopies of purple and gold. Following supper, the cadet has half an hour in which to chat with