out
from under me and I sat down on the river about six or seven feet
below. I sat down hard too."

"Did you enjoy it?" laughed John.

"I did not," replied Fred slowly, "but the people on the docks and
along the banks seemed to have a fine time."

"What did you do next?" laughed George.

"I tied some old sacking on my feet and tried to wipe up the grease as
I went along."

"And didn't that work?"

"Nay, verily it didn't work. I took my seat that time on the pole and
then when I slipped, I tried to throw my arms around it. But for some
good reason I didn't delay very long, before I dropped with a splash
into the St. Lawrence."

"I hope they will have those things this summer," spoke up John.

"You would be a good one to walk on a greased pole," said George
soberly. "You wouldn't take much space and if you could once get a
footing you could reach forward almost to the end and grab the cup."

"If I did," retorted John, "you can rest easy that I wouldn't let go of
it."

"How soon do we come to West Point?" inquired Grant.

"In about an hour," answered Fred.

"Do you know, I sometimes think I should like to go there," said George.

"Couldn't be done, my son," spoke up John.

"Why can't it be done?"

"Because a fellow that enters West Point has to pass an examination."

"Don't you think I could pass it?" demanded George as his friends
laughed.

"It depends on what it is," answered John.

"If they would examine you about the old Meeker House and running tin
tubes from the kitchen into the front room and a few other things like
that maybe you would pass."[1]

"That's all right," spoke up George promptly. "I know something about
what a fellow has to do before he passes the West Point examinations
anyway and that's more than some fellows I know can say."

"What do you know that we don't?" inquired John.

"How old does a fellow have to be to enter West Point?" demanded George.

"I don't know," replied John somewhat foolishly. "I suppose he has to
be about eighteen, at least I suppose a fellow eighteen could enter."

"Could he enter if he was twenty-one?" inquired George.

"He could," spoke up Grant. "A fellow has to be between seventeen and
twenty-two years of age before he can take the preliminary
examinations. But there's another qualification almost as necessary,"
he added. "He has got to be free from infirmities."

"No hope for Pop then," said John solemnly. "He has too many
infirmities."

"W