It was a military school; the boys all dressed in gray uniforms built on the plan of the Confederate army; the hero constantly paraded before their imaginations was Robert E.Lee; discipline was rigidly military; more important, a high standard of honour was insisted upon.

There was one thing a boy could not do at Bingham and remain in the school; that was to cheat in class-rooms or at examinations.

For this offence no second chance was given.

"I cannot argue the subject," Page quotes Colonel Bingham saying to the distracted parent whose son had been dismissed on this charge, and who was begging for his reinstatement.

"In fact, I have no power to reinstate your boy.
I could not keep the honour of the school--I could not even keep the boys, if he were to return.