Word: plebe
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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Then, too, there is the spirit of the Corps--something intangible, something which grows into one after one wears the gray. A lowly plebe has some of it--a first classman, quite a bit more. It is that attraction which our motto, "Duty, Honor, Country," holds for us. It stays with one long after his Cadet days are over. It is that spirit that we of the Corps are treading today "where they of the Corps have trod." It is somewhat different from that spirit of brotherhood and fellowship between men who say, "I am a Harvard...
...answer that fits our purpose. The rest of the world may praise or blame as it sees fit. To us they are standards that we must follow to be worthy of the men before us. Some are for the good of the individual--though he often doubts it is plebe days and some we would not part with for gold...
...there are many lighter things that have their place. A plebe, for instance, is not recognized by the Corps for his first year. He is by himself in a world apart, subject to judgment at all times. And this is wise. Conceive Mr. Dumbjohn the name is itself traditional who receives an appointment to the Academy Promptly Father and Mother Dumbjohn print accounts of young hopeful's appointment in the Podunk paper. He is given farewell parties, he lords it over the soft-eyed damsels, he is escorted to the train with the Podunk Fireman's band. The hero...
Then the Corps wheels through the sally-ports, and the silent ranks become alive. For the last time the plebe tucks his chin into his collar, heaves until his muscles crack on his shoulders, and holds his breath for a last instant. The ranks are halted; the front rank faces about, and the hands that were denied him for a year are seeking his. The bitterness leaves him. That is a holy time...
...that the football season is here, other customs are revived. The plebe sounds off the days to the next game as well as those to June and Graduation. The Corps listens to doleful forecasts from officers and is told that it must back up the team. Then it goes to the game and cheers its throat into paralysis, just as it would have done without the patriotic speeches, and "Yuh-gotta-do its" of the cheer-leaders...