_"On December 17, at nine A.M., at the town hall in Wilburville,
I will meet all young men who believe themselves to possess the
other proper qualifications for a cadetship at either West Point
or Annapolis."_

So ran the Congressman's announcement in the daily press of the
district.

Every young man had to be of proper age, height, weight and general
good bodily condition. He must, of course, be a citizen of the
United States.

Every young man was advised to save himself some possible trouble
and disappointment by going, first of all, to his family physician
for a thorough examination. If serious bodily defects were found,
that would save the young man from the trouble of going further
in the matter.

But at the Wilburville town hall there was to be another physical
examination, which every young man must pass before he would be
admitted to the mental examinations, which were to last into the
evening.

Dick Prescott read this announcement and thrilled over it.

For two years or more he had been awaiting this very opportunity.

Every Congressman once in four years has one of these cadetships
to give to some young man.

Sometimes the Congressman would give the chance to a boy of high
social connections, or else to the son of an influential politician.
A cadetship was a prize with which the Congress man too often
paid his debts.

Good old General Daniel E. Sickles was the first Congressman to
formulate the plan of giving the cadetship to the brightest boy
in district, the young man proving his fitness by defeating all
other aspirants in a competitive examination.

Since that time the custom had grown up of doing this regularly.
It is true, at any rate of most of the states of the Union.
In some western and some southern states the cadetship is still
given as a matter of favor.

The young man who receives the appointment goes to the United
States Military Academy at West Point. He is now a "candidate"
only. At West Point he is subjected to another searching series
of physical and mental examinations. If he comes out of them
successfully he is admitted to the cadet corps, and becomes a
full-fledged cadet.

The candidate must report at West Point on the first of March.
If he succeeds in entering the corps, and keeps in it, four years
and three months later the young man is graduated from the Military
Academy. The President now commissions him as a second lieutenant
in the Regular Army. Thus sta