CHAPTER II.

COMMUNICATIONS, ETC.

HAVING given in the previous chapter a brief account
of myself--dropping now, by permission, the third
person--prior to my appointment, I shall here give
in full what led me to seek that appointment, and
how I obtained it. It was while sitting "in his
father's quiet shoeshop on Decatur Street"--as a
local paper had it--that I overheard a conversation
concerning the then cadet from my own district. In
the course of the conversation I learned that this
cadet was to graduate the following June; and that
therefore a vacancy would occur. This was in
the autumn of 1872, and before the election. It
occurred to me that I might fill that vacancy,
and I accordingly determined to make an endeavor
to do so, provided the Republican nominee for
Congress should be elected. He was elected. I
applied for and obtained the appointment. In
1865 or 1866--I do not now remember which:
perhaps it was even later than either--it was
suggested to my father to send me to West Point.
He was unwilling to do so, and, not knowing very
much about the place, was reluctant to make any
inquiries. I was then of course too young for
admission, being only ten or twelve years old;
and knowing nothing of the place myself, I did