Show ala disk abaft ell aven SIT L t A 4 it 4 aval havens I 1 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON from nevadas hoary ridges from stormy coasts of 0 maine from lava beds and yellow tellow stone the story never waned whenever duty called they went their steps were never slow with alma mater on their lips and benny havens oh when this lifes troubled tea sea to I 1 oer and our last battles i through it if god permits us mortals there his bis blest domain to view 1 then we shall see in glory crowned in proud celestial celestia row T the he friends weve known and i loved so EO well at benny havens oh HAT officer of the united states army from the merest shave tall tail up to a general with four stars stairs on en his shoulders lias has not heard that verse and for a brief moment been carried back to alma meter mater the uniti ed states military acad emy at west point N Y i bmw for ft tlde one of the ae post va pic la 11 tur esque and beloved traditions of that famous military school where bradt tion Is so strong centers around the name of benny havens who was benny havens one of americas famous generals a graduate of whom west point is proud A bej loved teacher at the academy well hardly I 1 sometime prior to 1832 benny havens came to west point and oc opted a one story cottage a short dis tance west of vi where here the old cadet hos pital now the nurses quarters stands i what his ancestry was or where he i tame came from no one seems to know but j after olt all those things are relatively 1 unimportant for the beginnings of a f tradition are frequently wrapped in a mist of obscurity but a tradition is none the less dear on that account in the early days of bennys bennas residence at it the post he be sold to the cadets cabets ale takes and elder cider and to in the winter i buckwheat cakes and elder cider flip later on the cider flip became ale flip and t still later something a bit stronger was added to his bill of fare it was this something which led to bennys bennas i undoing for he was expelled from fi om the i reservation by this time benny had become so i attached td the corps of cadets cabets and i the cadets cabets had become so attached i to benny that neither could think of allowing this expulsion to mean his retirement to the obscurity from which lie be had come so he set up his little shop chop just off the post in what later become became known as the house by the river a mecca to which so many of j west points famous sons made fre fluent even if foi forbidden bidden pilgrimages for slipping out of ef bounds to the hos bitable fireside of benny havens where food and drink could be illegally obtained contrary to the rules and regulations which have always characterized the dignity and order of this severe academy was one of the offenses for which a 8 cadet could be skinned today they aliey call it i fi 1 e reported for one of tile i many breaches of regulations for instance take the case of cu det i armstrong ouster custer of ohio along about tile the year 1881 1861 custer himself has re corded my offenses offen Res agal against list 1 law tw and order were not great in but q X alv I 1 y av 1 62 fan enam what they lacked in magnitude they made up in number dumber the forbidden loc locality allty of benny havens possessed stronger attractions than the study and demonstration of a problem in euclid if you go eo to west point today d ay iy you can find inan in an old sheepskin hound bound volume the record of custers Cn skin shin sheet hearing the lie list of offenses for which cadet ouster custer was reported in all there are Sep separate arute skins with a total of demerits and many of them are for partaking of bennys bennas hospitality since a cadet cadei Is allowed demerits before he Is dismissed custer had only 23 more to go when ben he be was graduated so lie came very nearly being denied his chance tor for fame and america came very nearly losing one of her most brilliant cavalry officers but if benny haens bad a part in this his it was by no means a unique case many an other officer who mile later became famous could testify to a number of skins because they simply could not resist 0 bennas bennys pitcher the charm clearm of benny havens hospi bality lity lenny bonny havens berens character was ninny many sided kind to children invariably courteous courteous to women so BO reads a sketch in bugle notes the handbook of the united states corps of cadets cabets or the glebes plebes bible as it Is called at west point he was possessed of a terrible and ungovernable temper there was an something somi tiling thing about his personality that bound his friends to him by inseparable ties virtues and qualities were his bis which helped to shape the lives of and give guidance to as they rose to lifes pinnacles many whose names are now engraved on the pages of history for instance there was A certain cadet edgar allan poe ioe dur ing tile the short slay silly ol of that in at tile the aca deray he wits was dis missed after afler bring tit ing chete about aboul six months poe frequently visited ben bell nys dys place of business while it was still on the reservation and became devoted to him the future poet often remarked that I 1 it a t benny was the sola a 0 Is congenial soul in tue the entire god forsaken place denny benny lived to tile the ripe old age of 0 el eighty lity eight years tops taps were sounded et for him hidu on may 29 1877 and now be sleeps in tho the highland High lind union t a ry on the banks of life hie river be loed so well but west point Is rich in memories of benny havens II if you go there today they will show you tile tho pitcher from which lie he served his famous cider lip flip cut but most of all his bis fame is preserved in the song which has been carried literally around the world by west pointers that song wits was composed early in his career it was wag written about 1838 when L luclus u aclus clus obrien of maryland a lieutenant in the eighth infantry was visiting a friend adey A arnold then a nral basil classman together tb they y spent many a congenial evening at bennys bennas place and so tile the story goes obrien and his friends composed a poem about benny and set it to the tune of the wearing of the green it immel ly became popular at west PO poin and for the next quarter of a century one of the first things a plebe did was to learn to sing benny havens ohl oh I 1 during the summer days of 1805 when day after day the steamers hearing ben ring home the veterans of the civil war passed benny little cottage on tit lie banks of the hudson the hands bands would strike up one tune and denny benny would hear hundreds of voices joining in the singing of come III fill your glasses fellows and stand up in a row to singing were for to go co in th the a army theres sobriety promotion eions very slow elow so well sing our ot of benny havens oh CHORUS ohl benny havens ohl ohl oh benny love havens oh 1 we well 11 sing our of 0 benny clavens havens ohl oh to our kin kind old id alma mater our rockbound bound ci highland gilland home weal we 11 cast many a fond regret ackret as oel afif lifes e a sea we roam until on our last battle held field the light of heaven shall glow flow well never fall all to to her and penny havens oh CHORUS may blay tho the army be augmented may promotion be jobs slow may our country in the hour ot of need be re ready dy for or tile the foe oe may alay wa vt aln find d a sold soldiers Jers rest ins etc beneath a soldiers blow with roum enough beside our braves for or renne havens ohl oh |