It was against the rules that the cadets should go beyond certain limits without permission.  Of course they did go sometimes, and when caught were given quite a number of “demerits.”  My father was riding one afternoon with me, and, while rounding a turn in the mountain road with a deep woody ravine on one side, we came suddenly upon three cadets far beyond the limits.  They immediately leaped over a low wall on the side of the road, and disappeared from our view.  We rode on for a minute in silence; then my father said:  “Did you know those young men?  But no; if you did, don’t say so.  I wish boys would do what is right, it would be so much easier for all parties!”

He knew he would have to report them, but, not being sure of who they were, I presume he wished to give them the benefit of the doubt.  At any rate, I never heard any more about it.  One of the three asked me next day if my father had recognised them, and I told him what had occurred.

By this time I had become old enough to have a room to myself, and, to encourage me in being useful and practical, my father made me attend to it, just as the cadets had to do with their quarters in barracks and in camp.  He at first even went through the form of inspecting it, to see if I had performed my duty properly, and I think I enjoyed this until the novelty wore off.  However, I was kept at it, becoming in time very proficient, and the knowledge so accquired has been of great use to me all through life.

My father always encouraged me in every healthy outdoor exercise and sport.  He taught me to ride, constantly giving me minute instructions, with the reasons for them.  He gave me my first sled, and sometimes used to come out where we boys were coasting to look on.  He gave me my first pair of skates, and placed me in the care of a trustworthy person, inquiring regularly how I progressed.  It was the same with swimming, which he was very anxious I should learn in a proper manner.  Professor Bailey had a son about my age, now himself a professor of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, who became my great chum.  I took my first lesson in the water with him, under the direction and supervision of his father.  My father inquired constantly how I was getting along, and made me describe exactly my method and stroke, explaining to me what he considered the best way to swim, and the reasons therefor.  I went to a day school at West Point, and had always a sympathetic helper in my father.  Often he would come into my room where I studied at night, and, sitting down by me, would show me how to overcome a hard sentence in my Latin reader or a difficult sum in arithmetic, not by giving me the translation of the troublesome sentence or the answer to the sum, but by showing me, step by step, the way to the right solutions.  He was very patient, very loving, very good to me, and I remember trying my best to please him in my studies.  When I was able to bring home a good