"There won't
be a gun fired in the world for a hundred years, I guess. If there
isn't, I'll study law, but I want an education, and now I see how I can
get it."
His mother was by no means "sold" on the idea of his becoming a soldier
either, and it was only when he assured her that there wouldn't be a
gun fired in a hundred years, that she finally consented. If she could
have looked ahead to his future career, and final part in the greatest
war the world has ever known--one wonders what her emotions would have
been!
Pershing passed his entrance examination by a narrow margin, and then
entered a training school at Highland Falls, N. Y., for tutoring in
certain deficient branches. At last in June, 1882, when he was just
rounding his twenty-second year, he became a freshman in the great
Academy on the Hudson.
The young plebe from the West speedily fell in love with the
institution and all that it represented. He found the soldier life
awakening in him, along with his desire for a good education. Four
happy years were spent there--and while he didn't shine, being number
thirty in a class of seventy-seven, his all-around qualities made him
many friends among both faculty and students. He was made ranking
cadet captain in his senior year, and chosen class president.
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