The West Virginian

WEAKLINGS MADE STRONG AND STURDY
BY WYOMING CADET DRILLS AND CAMPS
(Third article of series by Staff Correspondent Newell on Wyoming's high school cadet organization--a modification of the famous Swiss army plan.)
BY CHAS. H. NEWELL.
CHEYENNE, Wyo., Feb. 17. I offer John Harrington, Jr., and Evon Schneider as two fine examples of the health-building value of military training as carried on in the high school of seven Wyoming cities.
Both are Cheyenne boys. Harrington has been graduated and is associate editor of Silver and Gold, the University of Colorado semi-weekly. Schneider is still in Cheyenne high.
Three years ago Harrington was told by his family doctor he had a heart leakage and must not enlist in the cadet corps. He was thin, tall, delicate. His parents took him to see a Denver specialist, who confirmed the doctor's diagnosis.
But Harrington wanted to join the cadets, and got permission from an osteopath. He omitted only the wall-scaling part of the training.
Two years of drill built him up so he asked his osteopath for permission to try wall scaling in his senior year. He went it.
Harrington was graduated last June. He won second honors for scholarship. And he was six feet tall and weighed 150 pounds. He weighed less than 110 when he joined the cadets.
His wall scaling didn't affect his heart, and he was a corking good scaler.
"It's a wonder he isn't dead,"
said the Denver specialist.
Schneider, a 110-pound wonder, is a senior, but has never held an office in the cadet corps because ill health kept him out of school just when he was in line for promotion.
But he is the only Cheyenne cadet who walked every step of the 26 miles to Pole Mountain military reservation for the summer outing of two weeks, and carried his own equipment all the way.
Last year he spent two months in a hospital with Bright's disease.
When I talked to him he told me he had been pronounced well by his doctors, and never felt better. I watched him scale the regulation eight-foot walls, and saw one of the eight reasons why Squad 5 is the best in the corps.
(This ends the series on Wyoming high school cadets, but in a few days Newell will tell about the city of Casper's experiment with school uniforms for boys and girls, as an insurance of democracy. Editor West Virginian.)
Crack sharpshooters of Cheyenne high school cadet squad, with their commander and sponsor.
Presence of sponsors, chosen from among girls in the school, adds an air of chivalry to competitions.