clear and distinct from all others. The
first of these was the day I won my appointment at Trenton, Missouri,
in a competitive examination with seventeen competitors. An old friend
of the family happened to be at Trenton that day and passing on the
opposite side of the street called to me and said, 'John, I hear you
passed with flying colors.' In all seriousness, feeling the great
importance of my success, I naively replied in a loud voice, 'Yes, I
did,' feeling assured that no one had ever passed such a fine
examination as I had."

In spite of his success, however, Pershing was not yet ready to take up
the strenuous course in the Military Academy. The work is severe and
only the fittest are supposed to survive. He must have a more careful
preparation in certain branches, he decided, and accordingly entered the
Highland Military Academy, Highland Falls, New York, in which he
continued as a student until the following June (1882). The head of the
school was sincerely loved and deeply respected by his boys, and in
after years General Pershing usually referred to him as "splendid old
Caleb"--for "Caleb" was the title the students had bestowed upon Col.
Huse.

In the military school Pershing's record is much what one who has
followed his development in the preceding years would expect it to be.
He was an earnest, consistent student, doing well and steadily improving
in his work, without any flashes of brilliancy. He was moving not by
leaps but steadily toward the education he was determined to obtain.

Those who recall him as a pupil at Highland say that he is best
remembered for his physical strength and his skill as a horseman.
Doubtless he had had training and experiences which were outside those
which many of his classmates had shared.

At last in July, 1882, when he was not quite twenty-two years of age,
Pershing became a plebe in the United States Military Academy at West
Point. A part of his dream had been realized. His record shows that he
still was manifesting the traits he already had displayed. Persistent,
determined, methodical, a hard and steady worker, he was numbered thirty
when he graduated in his class of seventy-seven. However, his "all
around" qualities were shown by the fact that in his fourth class or
final year, upon the recommendation of the commandant of Cadets, he was
appointed by the Superintendent of the Academy to be the senior, that
is, first in rank, of all the cadet captains--an honor wort