VMI Cadet. November 29, 1915

              THE CADET ISSUED BY
THE CORPS OF VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE
VOL. IX LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1915 NO. 11
GORRS SPENDS HOLIDAY IN ROANOKE
25th Embraces Turkey Dinner, Football, Vaudeville,
Any stranger, happening to be
around barracks, during the past week
would have heard the slogan, "On
to Roanoke" echoing in the court
yard. Never has such a bunch of pep
and spirit left for the "Magic City,"
and every cadet was behind the team.
A special train carried the corps to
Roanoke. One could easily see that
V. M. I. was determined to win the
game; "old yells" and songs floated
through the car winows,and eagerness
was in every voice.
The corps paraded through the
streets of the city to the Hotel Ponce
De Loen, accompanied by cheering
alumni and friends. Companies were
then dismissed, and the men allowed
to amuse themselves until the game.
Some found recreation in "bumming"
the streets, others strutted up to look-ing
glasses and smoothed their hair,
in preparation of an invasion of the
realms of calic. The latter had a
sort of "veni, vidi, vici," air about
them and the words, " I f I had only
met you in time" were uttered many
times. The Roanoke jitney service
did a rushing business.
The game is discussed elsewhere
and it would be out of place to say
anything, except that it was a great
disappointment to all. When it was
over the cadets Jwere tree until 9
o'clock. Some of the worshippers
of Terpsichore were so bent on "trip-ping
the light fantastic" that they
went to the Masonic Temple, (the
dance did not begin until 9) in hopes
that it would start early. Many
went to the Roanoke theatre, where
Sammy Goldman (Ex-V. M. I. band)
rendered a selection of bugle calls,
and the songs of V. M. I. and. V. P.
I. The "Touchdown V. M. I ."
showed that the cadets can sing
when they have even the semblance
of music to go by.
At 9 o'clock the battalion! was as-sembled
and marched to the station,
where it entrained for Lexington.
But such a different bunch from the
one that started twelve hc/urs ago!
If the top of each cadet's head could
have been removed and a pi/cture made
of his brain, one would have done
for all: that of a 3way backed cot,
perhaps popped on two cn/airs, a black-ing
stool, or even the 'radiator, but
the .heaven of every/one —his hay.
Some tried to sleep on/ the train by
emulating the ostrich, that is by
finding some place f6v his head and
draping the seat of Jtiim on anything
that would suppo/kt him. Finally
someone came through the train and
said "East Lexington." There was a
great stretching/ and yawning, but
luck favored us,i because wonder of
wonders, the engine was able to make
the grade, an<jf the corps arrived
Lexington pro
Then new I "pen" seemed to take
hold of the I corp. and the battalion
marched with/ a swinging step to the
whistled tunjfe of "Our Director."
When any one succeeds in getting a
Continued on pu«e 6
HON. CHARLES H. GRASTY
LECTURES TO CORPS
Says Thai When European War is Over the U. S.
Will Not Have a Friend
On Saturday, Nov. 20th, the In-stitute
had the pleasure of hearing
Mr. Charles H. Grasty, former owner
and editor of the Baltimore Sun. The
subject of his talk was: "The Euro-pean
War and Its Lessons for Ua."
As Mr. Grasty has just returned
from the war zone, he gave first hand
information, and information of vital
importance to every true American
citizen. On of his best points was
his likening America to an overfed,
helpless giant, the envy of every one
of the hungry participants in the pres-ent
war, and the prey for any or all
of them when the war is over. He
attacked the peace policy of Mr. Bry-an,
showing that it was inevitable
that we should some day be called
upon to defend some of our policies,
such as the Monroe Doctrine, and
that we had nothing with which to
defend it.
Mr. Grasty is a most entertaining
speaker, and his anecdotes are witty
and appropriate. The Institute deriv-ed
both pleasure and benefit from his
lecure. The corps would like to hear
him again.
Week's Calendar
TUESDAY, NOV. 30, 1915.
Meeting of Bomb staff in Room
108 at 9 :30 p. m.
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 1, 115.
Meeting of Mandolin club in Room
9-B at 6:30 p. m.
Class football game on Athletic
field at 4:00 p. m.
THURSDAY, DEC. 2, 1915.
Meeting of O. G's. Association in
Room 61 at 9:35 p. m.
FRIDAY, DEC. 3, 1195.
Meeting of Cadet societyBin library
at 7 :16 p. m.
Meeting of Dialectic society in Y.
M. C. A. hall at 7:15 p. m.
Meeting of Mandolin club in Room
9-B at 6:35 p. m.
SATURDAY, DEC. 4, 1915.
Class football game on Athletic field
at 3 :00 p. m.
Monogram club show in J. \1. hall
at 7 :00 p. m.
SUNDAY, DEC. 5, 1915.
Meeting of Y. M. C. A. in Y. M.
C. A. hall at 6:30 p. m.
MONDAY, DEC. 6, 1915.
Meeting of Mandolin club in Room
9-B at 6:30 p. m.
PITTSBURG CHAPTER HOLDS BANQUET
Get Together on Founder's Day for
Remambrances
" F i s " Carter asked me to write up
the V. M. I. alumni banquet which
we had last Staurday, Nov. 13th, at
the Fort Pitt hotel. I am not a
newspaper reporter nor have I ever
done any of that kind of work, sO I'll
just give you the dope and let you
spread the news. This is the way it
\v as:
In accordance with the notices sent
to all the alumni of the Pittsburgh
chapter, everyone answered to a man,
and parlors A and B of the Fort Pitt
hotel witnessed one of the happiest
reunions ever held by V. M. I. alum-ni.
After a big dinner, with all sorts
of varieties, which all cadets can ap-preciate,
there were a few talks by
some of the older and more experienc-ed
men. These talks were not all of
a business nature, for some of them
were stories of cadet days and a few
southern jokes. We were fortunate
in having Mr. Gbbons with us, who
is a graduate of Emory College of
Georgia. Being a typical southerner
and a fine impersonator, his enter-tainment
was highly appreciated.
Among those present were R. E.
Withers, '85, who is at the head of
the Aluminum Company of America;
S. B. Marshall, '95, N. Young, '99,
C. S. Carter, '08, F. W. Carter,
'12, W. B. Lowles, '13, F. W. Wil-mer,
'14, G. W. Spotts, '14, S. S.
Bradford, '14, A. L. Wellford, '15,
Page, ex'18, and myself.
Remember me to all the fellows.
Always in V. M. I.
W. L. HITT.
NEW YORK ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
WHERE TO FIND DEPARTMENTS
Athletics Page *
Directory " 4
Editorials *
Military Notes " 3
Personal and Alumni Notes " 5
Week'sCalendar " 1
Week's News " 2
The following is an extract from a
letter received recently from the sec-retary
of the New York Alumni asso-ciation,
and will prove of general in-terest
:
"The V. M. I. lunches continue to
be held on the first Wednesday of each
month at the Machinery club. During
the summer months several cadets
were on hand. In July, Leggett,
Fecheimer, Geyer, Sansberry and Jones
were with us and we mustered twenty
one all told. On Nov. 3rd thirteen
were present—it was very unlucky
for food. They were; Meem, '85;
Perry, '92; M«em, '00; Stuart, '01;
Couper, Funkhouser, '04. and friend;
Wolfe and Gentry, 'OS; Garber, '09;
Gentry, '11; Allen, '13, and Meem,
'14.
Secretary Couper was at the V. P.
I. game on Thanksgiving day and
helped us hatch more plans for get-ting
news from alumni.
S E C O N D CLASS
CHEMICAL ENGINEERS
N O T I C E
If there is a red mark in the
rectangle below, this means that
we have not heard from you con-cerning
whether or not you are
receiving THE CADET and that
your paper will be discontinued
with this number, until you
write. Attend to this matter at
once. Help us to revise and cor-rect
our book?.
DR. BRECK IS AGAIN AT V. M . I.
Corps Learns of His Thrilling Adventures as a
Secret Service Agent
Col. P. — Mr. Michaux what is
biblious paper?
Michaux—I don't know Colonel.
Col. P.—Do you know what a
biblious man is? ^
Michaux—(like a flash). He's one
who studies the Bible, sir.
All who heard him remember with
pleasure the interesting address de-livered
a short time ago by Dr. Breck
on Naval Preparedness. Wednesday
Dr. Breck favored us with another
very interesting talk on his experi-ences
as a spy in Spain during the
Spanish-American war. Dr. Breck
was at the outbreak of the war a
consul in Germany. He early realiz-ed
the necessity of obtaining informa-tion
of what the Spaniards were
doing in the way of building fortifica-tions
along the coast. Accordingly
he offered his services as a spy to the
secret service department of the
United States, but it was only after
a second offer some time later that
he was accepted. He disguised him-self
as a German doctor, and by a
very clever trick managed to get a
German passport, belonging to a
prominent German physician. Dis-carding
everything American, or
anything that would tend to give him
an American air, he completed his
disguise as a German, and set out for
Spain. Here he experienced a piece
of good luck in meeting and forming
an acquaintance with a prominent
Spanish general who yielded quite a
little influence. From him he ob-tained
letters that several times after-wards
helped him out of difficulties.
Dr. Breck made a complete tour of
the coast towns, and determined in
each case to what extent it was de-fended.
Several times the barely es-caped
arrest for taking pictures of
the forts, and once he was kept in
prison for a few hours, But luck
was with him, and each time he man-aged
to make his get a way without
a great deal of trouble. He collect-ed
a lot of very valuable information.
Had the war continued longer than
it did, and had we determined upon
an attack upon Spain, this informa-tion
would have been of material
aid to us.
In closing we would like to say
that we think Dr. Breck exhibited a
great deal of grit and nerve in his
experiences.