CADET LORE

The following came from the 7 October 1949 issue of the Pointer magazine:

This is a Yearling

It is usually asleep. In fact it can be located in almost any soft place. It grows fat and saucy. It wears slippers and gray bathrobes about the halls. It pokes playful fingers into plebe ribs when first classmen are not looking.

It stands shouting or groaning in the sally ports every weekend as it squints at little meaningless numbers in the windows. Once in a while it sits in orderly rooms jingling keys and hoping the telephone won't ring.

If awakened by one of its kind it usually tells a few bawdy jokes and then dozes off.

It grows long hair and scuffed shoes. It moves slowly until bells ring whereupon it goes yelling through barracks tying its tie and stamping its feet.

It becomes a flurry of activity around Christmas time.
It talks loudly and complains bitterly about how cruel its instructors are. It laughs uproariously at smutty jokes and upperclassmen who get reported. It tries hard to become famous.

Its habitat is clean only if it has less than eight demerits the week before spring leave.

Once in a while it tentatively tells a plebe to get his chin in, then mildly surprised that he does, it runs around telling all the plebes to get their chins in. Then it inflates its little chest and struts off to its room to catch some rest.

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This one came from the 18 November 1949 issue of the Pointer magazine:
This is a Plebe.

This is a plebe. It is found scurrying through the sally ports or sitting among the cups and pitchers at the table. It has a well scrubbed look, but with many wrinkles about the upper parts. When normal it is as unassuming as a door. When roused it reddens perceptibly and makes noises like a parrot on a hot stove. It is almost never seen in the company of its own kind, When spoken to it releases a stream of data and figures up to a year in advance.

It eats food, but very little. It is everywhere before anybody else, and forms long lines, ranks and files almost anytime. Once in a great while it is seen skittering across a hall in only part of a uniform. If yelled at at this time it stops very quickly and tries to look like a tree. But everybody knows trees are not red so it never works. Soon thereafter water begins coming out of it like sap. Its ears turn blue. Its eyes bulge slightly. People begin gathering around it and a few bark loudly. The louder and more frequent the barks the redder it gets. Finally someone barks most loud and it dashes away leaving only a puddle of water and steam. This is an odd sight the first time it is witnessed.

It has a frightening habit of standing very quiet very early in the morning, then suddenly at a signal making loud sounds at regular intervals. Everyone in the building jumps up and tries to get away from the noise but as soon as they all are gone it chases them out the door.

Early in the season when it first appears it breaks down occasionally. It then assumes a horizontal position. It is soon noticed and picked up, if it assumes the position again it is shipped away in a white truck kept for the purpose. More often than not it finds its way back.

It mysteriously disappears in June and neither hide nor hair of it is seen until July first.

It is very unique indeed.

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