United States Military Academy West Point - Howitzer Yearbook (West Point, NY)

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 ikfiiiiVJ .jl wY ASSOCI ATE PROFESSOR (’aitain George B. 1 11.1 111 hv, Corps of Fngim ers; class ’00; graduated I. A SS 1ST A NT PROF F,SS() R First I.ieitenant James F. Bell, Corps of Engineers; class 02; graduated I. INSTRUCTORS First I.ieitenant Sami t:i. Fran keniikkc.kh. 3d Field Artillery: class ' ». ; graduated II. First I.ieitenant Frederick II. Smith. Coast Artillery Corps; class 03; graduated 15. First I.ieitenant Charles It. Alley, Const Artillery Corps; class 04; graduated 12. First 1.11:1 tenant Ciiai’ncky I.. Fenton. Const Artillery Corps; class 04; graduated 15. First I.ieitenant William Biiyden, 5tl Field rtil-lery; class 04; graduated 19. First I.ieitenant Francis W. Honkycitt, 5th Field Artillery; class 0t; graduated 23. Second I.ieitenant ('iiaki.es Tkikord, 12th Cavalry; class K4; graduated 5. Second I.ieitenant Vacoiin W. Cooper, 19th Cavalry; class 04; graduated 14. Second I.ieitenant Roi.i.axd W. Cask, 10th Infantry; class 05; graduated 10. Second I.ieitenant Ciiaki.es S. Donavin, 27th Infantry; class 05; graduated 18. yf urt 15 ONE. DEMttED HORfcIO Department of Mathematics PROFESSOR I.iki TKN ANT-O01.0.NK1. Ciiaki.es P. Echols, Cadet. L’. S. .M. .. 1887-1891; appointed from Mahama; graduated 3; Instructor of .Mathematics, U. S. .M. A.. 1891; Assistant Professor of Mathematics, lT. S. M. A., 1897; Vssocilitc Professor of .Mathematic-. I . S. M. A., 1898; Professor of Mathematics, L.S.M.A.. 1904. — 30 —

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 Linked .sweetness, 1-o-n-g d-r-a-w-n o-u-t.” ME artistic temperament is u necessary attribute of one who would describe the Drawing Academy as “a thing of beauty and a joy forever.” To the uninspired who plod their weary way along, it spells work with a capital “W.” At first the perversity of all created things seems to he concentrated into one set of drawing instruments and every finger turns into a thumb. But, • as nothing is eternal in this mortal life of ours, finally the last plate is approved and slop work (well named, indeed) occupies the attention. This proves but the “stepping stone to higher things” and the yearling year terminates with a map of West Point, drawn, usually, in the friendly shelter of some rock on “Fort Put.” Furlough over, the “student officer” completes his artistic development. Deprived of the helping 'I' square and triangle he relies on the modicum of genius that God gave him to produce something remotely resembling a straight line. At this time the perennially youthful grinds concerning “the HI pencil” and “the clean, sweet line” make their appearance. From the first attempt to portray the infinite variety of a cube to the final despairing effort to draw a monkey wrench which shall not be mistaken for a pair of manicure scissors the progress is rapid. The appearance of the warm spring days brings a series of lectures on the great and near great in Art. intended to prepare the auditors ( ?) for the annual trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 'This is the season of the “post prandial nap.” Those who cannot resist, lapse to unconsciousness during a discussion of tin architecture of ancient Egypt and awake centuries later among the splendors of Rome,—latter-day Kip Van Winkles. And last of all comes landscape sketching, which serves only to produce a conviction of the error of not making the adjacent landscape a thing of straight lines and angles. This completed, the great day arrives when the implements of the craft are collected and farewell—a long farewell—is bade to “the counterfeit and counterpart of nature reproduced in Art.” — 2'J —

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THE- 1900-HOWITZER HE trouble of course begun when the first old skiu-dud sage squatted on his haunches and by experiment made the monumental discovery that by adding two sticks to two sticks he would have four sticks. Since I hat time all mankind has seemed linked in a conspiracy to dig up mathematical knowledge that would roughen up the smooth places in the lives of I Tide Sam's Pampered Pets. As a result of their untiring labors, the plebe is confronted on the threshold of his military career with a truly appalling array of weird fancies and vain imaginings. With Algebra and Geometry, his troubles begin, and a faltering, stumbling progress leads through “'Prig., ' Plane and Solid Conics, “Descrip., and finally “( ’alcule.” the completion of which is celebrated by a “never-again, perhaps the most heartfelt one of cadet days. 'The last few years have marked the passing of one of West Point's most time-honored institutions the late lamented text book on Algebra by one C. Smith. One who could ga .e with any degree of comprehension upon the idiosyncrasies of that immortal tome need have no fear for the future-knowledge is, to him, an open book. All that remained for him was a mastery of the Fourth Dimension—and subsequent, merciful, insanity. Hut to the common herd who plod and plod, other methods were necessary and the usual expedient adopted was to assume the truthfulness of the respected (’. Smith as a “scholar and a gentleman and to swallow, whole, his mathematical conclusions. Not that the latter process was an easy one the alternative of premature graduation had something to do with the choice. It has been, from time immemorial, the custom of the Corps to exaggerate the ridiculous aspect of things and no subject, however awe-inspiring, can escape. Hut in the case of this Department, jest often masks a real and poignant anxiety, for the prospect of being “found in Math.’ hangs like the sword of Damocles over the devoted heads of the two lower classes. That this fear is not unfounded may be proved bv the fact that the number of deficiencies reported in Mathematics form a large majority of the total. The requirements of the course are stern and rigorous, of mercy there is little, and the doctrine of the survival of the fittest holds undisputed sway. Hut those who do survive, come through the ordeal with a fair certainty of attaining the Mecca of all our strivings— Graduation which begins to loom as a remote but possible consummation of the four year-long task. — 31 —