Brief description:
As a West Point aspirant:
“So am I, Mother, particularly as we need the money. But I think I can find something else to do. Business is picking up a little. I’m going to be on the lookout. Something is sure to turn up. And I do hope it will be something worth while, so I can, by some means or other, get enough ahead to go to West Point."
“You haven’t forgotten your ambition I see, Tom,” said his mother, as she vigorously plied her needle, taking advantage of the last hours of daylight.
“Forgotten it, Mother? Indeed I haven’t I never shall. I intend to go to West Point, and be come an army ofiicer.” Tom straightened himself up as he said this, as though he had heard the command: “Attention!”
But the only sound that came to the ears of his mother and himself was the distant hum and roar of the little city, on the outskirts of which they lived.
Mrs. Taylor sighed. Tom was folding the bills into a neat little package, enclosing within the silver coins. It was a small sum, but it represented much to him and his widowed mother. “ I don’t like to think of you being a soldier, Tom,” said Mrs. Taylor, as she stopped to thread a needle.
"Well l guess there isn’t very much danger," Tom laughed. ‘There aren't any vacancies from this congressional district. so I understand, and the appointments have all been filled And even if there was a chance for me to get in, I couldn't do it I guess.. It takes about a hundred dollars to start with, but of course after that Uncle Sam looks out for you. But I sure would like to go!""
Tom's eyes sparkled and again he half unconsciously straightened up as stiff the proverbial ramrod...
His mother said softly: "I can't bear to think of the war. It is so cruel!"
" Oh just because I want to go to West Point and become in army oflicer, doesn't mean there will be a war, Mother.... But the best way not to have a war, is to be in the finest possible shape to meet it if it does come....the United States Army does a lot off things besides shooting and killing," Tom Said. Look at the officers and men -- see what they have done in the Panama Canal Zone... in spite of the fact that they are trained in the arts of War,
“So am I, Mother, particularly as we need the money. But I think I can find something else to do. Business is picking up a little. I’m going to be on the lookout. Something is sure to turn up. And I do hope it will be something worth while, so I can, by some means or other, get enough ahead to go to West Point."
“You haven’t forgotten your ambition I see, Tom,” said his mother, as she vigorously plied her needle, taking advantage of the last hours of daylight.
“Forgotten it, Mother? Indeed I haven’t I never shall. I intend to go to West Point, and be come an army ofiicer.” Tom straightened himself up as he said this, as though he had heard the command: “Attention!”
But the only sound that came to the ears of his mother and himself was the distant hum and roar of the little city, on the outskirts of which they lived.
Mrs. Taylor sighed. Tom was folding the bills into a neat little package, enclosing within the silver coins. It was a small sum, but it represented much to him and his widowed mother. “ I don’t like to think of you being a soldier, Tom,” said Mrs. Taylor, as she stopped to thread a needle.
"Well l guess there isn’t very much danger," Tom laughed. ‘There aren't any vacancies from this congressional district. so I understand, and the appointments have all been filled And even if there was a chance for me to get in, I couldn't do it I guess.. It takes about a hundred dollars to start with, but of course after that Uncle Sam looks out for you. But I sure would like to go!""
Tom's eyes sparkled and again he half unconsciously straightened up as stiff the proverbial ramrod...
His mother said softly: "I can't bear to think of the war. It is so cruel!"
" Oh just because I want to go to West Point and become in army oflicer, doesn't mean there will be a war, Mother.... But the best way not to have a war, is to be in the finest possible shape to meet it if it does come....the United States Army does a lot off things besides shooting and killing," Tom Said. Look at the officers and men -- see what they have done in the Panama Canal Zone... in spite of the fact that they are trained in the arts of War,
Publication
Cupples & Leon, (1915) HB, DJ, Good, 206