The Gentleman Cadet Part 12

I now began my regular duties as f.a.g, and as these, with but slight variations, continued during nearly a year, I can here describe them.

About twice a week I had to call Snipson at five o'clock in the morning and light a candle for him, in order that he might work, for he was very much behind in his mathematics and feared he would not qualify for a commission, so he was now working hard to make up leeway. Very often I had to stand beside Snipson's bed for an hour to hold the ink and a candle, because he could see better than if the candle rested on the bed, and could get at his ink more easily. Snipson, I found, had been longer at the Academy than Holms, and had been reduced from the rank of corporal on account of keeping up lights in his room after hours. This, it was said, had made him very savage, and caused him to be one of the greatest bullies at the "shop," as the Academy was termed.

Half an hour before Snipson got up I had to be washed and dressed, in order to hand Snipson his sponge, towel, soap, tooth-brush, etc, and to have his coat brushed and held ready to be put on. I then had to inspect him to see if there was a speck of dust on him, and to brush this off if there was.

Holms exacted very little f.a.gging from me; he merely required to be brushed and his things kept tidy in his cupboard, so I was mainly occupied with Snipson.

One of my most difficult duties was at breakfast parade. For our breakfast we were allowed only bread and b.u.t.ter to eat, and Snipson had a great fancy for jam, hot rolls, and marmalade. It was strictly against orders to take any such things into the dining-hall, and as we were all a.s.sembled on parade and inspected by an officer previous to going into breakfast, it required considerable dexterity to convey a pot of jam or a roll into the hall without being discovered. The method in which this was managed was the following--

I, being a small boy, was in the rear rank whilst Snipson was in the front rank. I carried the pot of jam in my tail-pocket until the officer on duty had inspected the front rank and the faces of the rear rank. Just as he reached the end of the line and before he inspected the rear of the rear rank, Snipson used to turn round whilst I, extracting the pot of jam from my tail-pocket, tossed it over to him; he caught it and put it in his tail-pocket.

We became quite dexterous at this performance, and accomplished it like a sleight-of-hand trick, till one morning Snipson missed catching it, and the pot fell on parade, broke, and the jam was discovered by the officer on duty.

"Fall out, the gentleman who brought that jam on parade!" said the officer.

I hesitated a minute, and then fell out and said I had done so.

"Then you will be in arrest, sir, till further orders!" said the officer.

I was rather alarmed at this, for I fancied I might receive some severe punishment for this breach of regulation.

Snipson was very angry with me, and accused me of carelessness in pitching the jam to him, so on returning to my room he told me he would give me an angle of forty-five as a punishment. As this angle of forty-five was a very popular punishment in those days, we venture to describe it with some detail.

The cadet to be thus treated stood to attention against the cupboards, his arms rigid to his side, and he rigid from head to foot. He then rested the back of his head against the cupboard and gradually moved his feet out till he rested at an angle of nearly forty-five degrees with the cupboards. The old cadet with a kick then kicked the neux's feet outwards, and the victim came down heavily on his back.

Cadets upon whom this was practised were not uncommonly so much hurt that they had to go to hospital for several days.

At every parade--and there were about six per day--Snipson and Holms had to be brushed, and I was responsible if they were in the least dirty.

If the servant (for there was one servant to sixteen cadets) did not put the washing-basins down soon enough, I had at once to do his work for him. At the dinner I had occasionally to secure two large potatoes, and carry these out without being seen by the officer on duty or the head of the squad. These potatoes I had to conceal in my room, and then, when evening came, to bake them under the grate for Snipson. If I forgot salt I was sent down to the far end of Woolwich to buy a small quant.i.ty, and the time allowed me for the journey was so limited that I soon became a good runner.

Of an evening there were two candles in our room, and when Snipson worked he would not allow me to be in the room, as he said seeing me interrupted him, so I had either to wander about outside on parade or go to the library, where I was almost certain to be called upon by some old cadet to run messages for him, or to go to his room and do something, as it was concluded I was idle, or would not be in the library.

About four nights a week I used to be sent for to some of the eight rooms in the division to sing songs. Other neuxes were usually there also, and were also called on to sing, make speeches or odes, or tell stories, and if they did not acquit themselves to the satisfaction of the old cadets, they became the targets for boots, brushes, and other missiles.

This may be called the regular routine through which a f.a.g had to pa.s.s on first joining and for a year after his being at the Academy. To work out of academy hours at any study was impossible; and, in fact, it was considered "cool" for a neux to work in his room, so that there was an advantage in taking into the Academy a more extended stock of knowledge than was sufficient for pa.s.sing only.

One of the great days of dread to the neux was Sat.u.r.day afternoon. It was usual then to grant leave, from Sat.u.r.day at three to Sunday night, to all cadets who could produce invitations; and as all who could do so went away during that time, those who remained were in great request.

There were two reasons why a neux could not always get away: one was, that he might not have a written invitation; the other was, that he had been turned out to drill twice during the week, either by a cadet having the rank of corporal, or by the officer on duty, for unsteadiness on parade, or want of attention to drill.

The f.a.gging required on Sat.u.r.day afternoons was somewhat varied. Those old cadets who were not on leave usually made up a party in one of the rooms, and required something to eat and drink. To accomplish this it was necessary to use great caution, for such feasts were against orders, and to bring wine or spirits into the enclosure entailed, if discovered, the gravest punishment.

The most successful manner in which the matter was accomplished was the following:--

Two or three f.a.gs were sent out of an afternoon with cloaks on; one of these returned with the others and carried two bottles concealed under his cloak. Sometimes as many as six or seven cadets would be sent out, and if any of these were met by an officer and examined, the chances were against the one who had the wine being caught among so many.

Snipson sent me on these smuggling expeditions very frequently, and threatened me with the most dire punishment if I ever divulged that he had sent me. He a.s.sured me that it would only be by stupidity or carelessness that I should be discovered, and so I must take the blame myself.

I had been very successful in avoiding detection until the fifth time; then, however, as I was coming round by the lodge with a bottle of sherry in each hand, and my cloak on, I ran almost against the officer on duty. I tried to slip one bottle under my arm and salute with the other hand, but I did this so awkwardly that he told me to take off my cloak. I did so, and of course was placed in arrest and the bottles taken from me. An inquiry into the matter led to my receiving seven days' arrest and a month's stoppage of leave, with a threat that if I were again found guilty of a similar offence I should be rusticated.

From Snipson I received nothing but blame; he declared that it was my own fault that I had been found out, and might consider myself lucky in not getting a thrashing from him for having lost the wine for which he had paid.

Some days after this event Snipson received what was called an "inattentive return" in some of his studies; the result was, that he had also seven days' arrest, with its attendant drill. This seemed to utterly sour his temper, for he became a greater bully than ever, and invented an amus.e.m.e.nt from which I was a sufferer. Being unable, in consequence of his arrest, to leave his room, except for meals, drill, and study in the regular academy hours, Snipson used to send for three last-joined cadets, making, with myself, four. He would then ask Timpson in from the opposite room and commence his amus.e.m.e.nt, which was carried on as follows:--

Taking a seat about five feet from the angles of the table, he used to provide himself with a towel, which he twisted up and tied at the end; this end he wetted, so as to make it an excellent weapon for flipping.

The four last-joined cadets were then started to run round the table-- two in one direction, two in the opposite. When the cadets had to pa.s.s one another there was a struggle between them as to which should be the insider. The outsider of course got all the flips with the towel, so there was a reason for the straggle for inside place.

Snipson described this amus.e.m.e.nt as such capital fun that several cadets used to come in to see it; but Holms, who was never present, came in one day and stopped it, saying it was bullying for no reason, and he would not allow it; and I was consequently saved from this in Holms' room; but when Snipson's arrest was over he used to take me to other rooms and there practise the same amus.e.m.e.nt.

When one looks back through the long vista of years to those distant days when one was a cadet, and remembers one's career there as a whole, the reminiscences that come most prominently forward are the agreeable.

It seems that by some arrangement of nature the pleasant and agreeable events of the past remain longer in our memory than do those that are disagreeable. We can recall the many agreeable hours we pa.s.sed with this or that cadet, many of whom have long since fallen, fighting gallantly before the enemy, or have sunk from disease in foreign climates, where their duty called them to serve. Some few still remain, most of whom have made their mark in the world, and whose names are now known, not in the corps alone in which they serve, but to the world at large, who note and remember the names of those who have distinguished themselves in various ways.

We can recall, too, how there was a majority at the Academy who had a high sense of honour and of military discipline, and who would willingly have put down bullying had they not somewhat weakly felt that by doing so they were putting themselves forward as "reformers,"--a prominence to which they objected. Though there was an evil crying out for remedy, yet there were good points even then at the Academy, that rendered it a useful school for the soldier. He there learnt to rough it, and to bear hardship, and too often injustice, without complaint. He learnt too the importance of keeping his word and acting up to a promise--matters not unusually neglected in the wide world. We believe that there is not a case on record of a cadet having broken his word of honour, or of having broken his arrest, which he was bound to keep on honour; and at the time we write of, although if a cadet were tipsy (a rare occurrence) all other cadets would try to screen him, yet, if a cadet had been known to break his arrest or his word, every other cadet would have instantly reported him, and used his utmost endeavours to obtain the most severe punishment for the offence.

There seems in this condition a vast amount of inconsistency, but inconsistency is the general characteristic of humanity, and is one of its weakest points. We usually find the best men occasionally do the worst things, the wisest men commit the most foolish acts, and the most pious act like the most wicked; misers squander their money on worthless objects, and the cautious become reckless.

There was great knowledge of character in the relater of the anecdote of the Roman Catholic who was in prison for murdering his father, but who was indignant at the idea of his being considered such a sinner as to eat meat on "a fast day." Every day we see examples of the grocer who, having ascertained from his a.s.sistant that he had mixed the sand with the sugar, and the saw-dust with the coffee, directed him to come in to prayers, and to mind he was attentive.

In former times it was not considered at all a dishonourable act to take a knife belonging to another cadet and to appropriate this to oneself; such an act was termed "smoutching," and was looked upon as rather a smart thing. If, however, one cadet took from another cadet a sixpence, or oven a penny, just as he had taken the knife, he would have instantly been reported to the authorities as a thief.

To kick, thrash, or f.a.g in any way a neux was considered by old cadets only fair and according to rule; but the instant any neux was on leave, from that instant he was free from f.a.gging, and any old cadet who was known to have f.a.gged a neux who was on leave, even to the extent of requesting to be brushed, would have been tried by his peers.

It was ten days after joining the Academy that I first obtained my uniform, and I can recall even now the secret pride with which I first put it on. I felt now that I really had commenced the career of a soldier, and that I had gained an enviable position by pa.s.sing my examination. There seemed to come upon me a feeling of responsibility as the coat came on me, and I made up my mind not to disgrace my cloth.

A boy at sixteen may well be pardoned for feeling that enthusiasm which hardship and neglect sometimes cause to be extinguished in the breast of a veteran.

Having, as I may term it, shaken down in my uniform, I asked Smart one day if he would come down with me to Hostler's. The reason proposed for this trip was to see one or two of our schoolfellows; but in my heart the reason was to show myself off in uniform before those boys who had looked down upon me when I was at Hostler's cram-school; and I also suspect that the same reasons induced Smart to accompany me.

"We shall just find the boys going out," said Smart, "and it will be great fun to see what they will say to you. What a sell it will be for Tomkins and Hurst--your pa.s.sing--for I hear, now so many have failed, Hostler won't let them come up for a year, so you will be an old cadet when they are second-half fellows, and will be able to f.a.g them.

Walkwell declares it was your drawing that got you into the Academy, and takes great credit to himself for having taught you."

We arrived at Mr Hostler's and entered the well-remembered playground, where we found the boys a.s.sembling previous to an afternoon walk. We were both welcomed with enthusiasm, whilst we were stared at as objects of wonder and admiration. In those days the difference between a cadet and a schoolboy was very great, and the cadet was looked up to as so far above the schoolboy, that the latter scarcely liked to speak to the former, for fear of meeting a rebuff. Cadets, too, very often cut their old schoolfellows, as they could not speak to anything so low. Our condescension in coming down to Hostler's was therefore fully appreciated, whilst the reception I met from many of my old companions, caused me to believe I had been most prejudiced as regards them. There was Smith, who used to make faces at me, and who used to call me a "Hampshire hog" and "Tomfool" when I was at Hostler's, now came with a deprecating smile on his face and shook hands with me, whilst he intimated he was awfully jolly that I had pa.s.sed.

There was Bones, as we used to call him, Fraser's great chum, who hated me after my victory over Fraser, and who used to spread false reports in the school to my detriment, now came up with "Hullo, Shepard, old fellow! You are a swell now! I'm so glad you're a cadet?"

As I stood surrounded by an admiring group of boys I heard the well-known voice of Hostler, and somehow the old influence came over me, and for an instant I had the fear of three cuts on the hand. Hostler had seen us in the school-yard, and came down to speak to us, but I must confess the style of his address entirely took me aback. Hostler was too clever for me.

"Ah, Shepard," he said, shaking hands, "glad to see you! Well, so my good groundwork of mathematics and Euclid pa.s.sed you. I thought it would. And I told Mr Rouse you only wanted a final polish, which I hadn't time to give you here with so many boys on hand, to give you a fair chance. Then, you see, the fact of your having been here was known at the Academy, and no doubt that helped you on. I feel much flattered at your having pa.s.sed, for it shows my system is a sound one."

I was utterly taken aback at this speech of Hostler's after what had happened; I almost expected he would have apologised to me for his behaviour. I forgot he did not know I had overheard his conversation with reference to my not being sent up, and I could almost swear that no communication whatever had taken place between him and Mr Rouse.

Thinking I would make an awkward remark for him I said, "I'm sorry Fraser and the others didn't pa.s.s."

"I never thought they would, Shepard," replied Hostler, who never moved a muscle of his face as he uttered this lie. "Fraser was idle and careless, and his friends would have him pushed on too rapidly, and so he wasn't sound. I protested against this, but it was no use, so I foolishly gave way."

Now it happened that Fraser had been four years at Mr Hostler's, and had been over and over again the coa.r.s.e that he had to be examined in; and when I was at Hostler's he was held up to me as one of the most promising boys, who was to bring honour to the establishment at which he had been prepared, and who was considered very likely to pa.s.s at the head of his batch.