p13  December 6, 1940 . . . .

Monday. I fear me this will be an unhappy week. I am a mail dragger. My sane wife who was mail dragger a few weeks ago was so harried that part of his hair and eyebrows, and seven eyelashes turned gray. My other wife now has a lump on the top of his head which makes his ears look as if they were placed six inches too low. He was doing a shoulder stand on the parallel bars and when told to relax a little he overdid it. The shock seems to have confused his already addled brain. This evening at supper he complained to his table commandant that his meal was spoiled by the sight of a certain upperclassman coping with a plate of soup. At any rate he was right about his meal being spoiled.

Tuesday. Nothing of interest today except my sane wife Noxoned​a his bedstead. My other wife now refuses to speak to him.

Wednesday. Put sand in my sane wife's blitz cloth today. I now wish I hadn't. It brought out the beast in him. As he thinks my other wife had a hand in it we have been forced to study back to back and we plan on sleeping in turns. One could kick a tiger's young with less cause for fear than scratch my sane roommate's breastplate.

Thursday. As I expected I got into great difficulties with the mail carrying today. Being in a great storm I delivered mail in the wrong division. A letter our Captain was eagerly expecting was thus delayed over an hour. He had a squad lined up and was just asking me if I preferred a blindfold when someone told him the ammunition would be charged to his cadet store account so I escaped with a reprimand, which shows every sign of lasting several days.

Friday. Made my French recording today. The instructor said he was amazed that anyone who so obviously lacked a roof to his mouth had mastered English. Saw a training film in tactics today. My other wife who had gone to sleep before the lights were turned off became quite excited when he woke up in the dark and started out to attend reveille.

Saturday. I went on guard tonight, a duty I detest. Fell in with the wrong relief which confused that corporal no little. To avoid any unpleasantness he was going to post me in someone's locker when my corporal came raging up. I wish he had never found me. As usual they changed the detail three minutes before I was inspected and I suspect they changed the orders too and quite possibly the wording of the "all right". The inspecting officer was most unpleasant about the whole thing. So to bed weary and worn.

Sunday. My other wife neglected to clean his mess kit after the last meal on manoeuvers and last night it exploded, frightening my sane wife into a delicate shade of green. Went over and threw a rock at the Gym this afternoon and so to bed.

---

Thayer's Note:

a Noxon is the brand name of a metal polish, still sold today. It is currently manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser; see their webpage.

◂ previous						next ▸
Images with borders lead to more information. The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)
UP TO:		The Collected Works of Ducrot Pepys	History of West Point	American History	Home
A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer. See my copyright page for details and contact information.

Accessibility