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22 - Army Letters from an Officers Wife, 1871-1888 by Frances M. A. Roe · Army Letters from an Officers Wife, 1871-1888

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty two of Army Letters from an Officer's Wife
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  Speaker 1: eighteen seventy one eighteen eighty eight. This is the LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Sue Anderson. Army Letters from an Officer's Wife eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy one eighteen eighty eight by Francis Rowe, Section twenty two,
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  Speaker 1: A last letter from eighteen eighty eight. The Walker House,
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  Speaker 1: Salt Lake City, Utah, September eighteen eighty eight. The weather
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  Speaker 1: is still very warm, but not hot enough to keep
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  Speaker 1: us from going to the lake as usual this morning.
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  Speaker 1: The ride is about eighteen miles long and is always
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  Speaker 1: more or less pleasant. The cars, often long trains, are narrow,
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  Speaker 1: gage open, and airy. The bathing is delightful, but wholly
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  Speaker 1: unlike anything to be found elsewhere. The wonderfully clear water
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  Speaker 1: is cool and exhilarating, but to swim in it is impossible.
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  Speaker 1: It is so heavy from its large percentage of salt,
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  Speaker 1: so every one floats, but not at all as one
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  Speaker 1: floats in other waters. We lie upon our backs, of course,
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  Speaker 1: at least we think we do, but our feet are
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  Speaker 1: always out of the water and our heads straight up
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  Speaker 1: with large straw hats upon them. They have a way
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  Speaker 1: of forming human chains on the water that often startles
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  Speaker 1: one at first. They are made by hooking one's arms
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  Speaker 1: close to the shoulder over the ankles of another person,
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  Speaker 1: still another body hooking on to you, and so on.
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  Speaker 1: Then each one will stretch his or her arms out
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  Speaker 1: and paddle backward. And in this way we can go
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  Speaker 1: about without much effort, and can see all the funny
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  Speaker 1: things going on around us. As I am rather tall,
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  Speaker 1: second position in a chain is almost always given to me,
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  Speaker 1: and my first acquaintance with masculine toes close to my
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  Speaker 1: face came very near being disastrous. The feet stood straight up,
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  Speaker 1: and the toes looked so very funny with now and
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  Speaker 1: then a twitch back or front, that soon I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to laugh, And the more I tried not to, the
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  Speaker 1: more hysterical I became. My shoulders were shaking, and the
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  Speaker 1: owner of the toes, a pompous man, began to suspect
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  Speaker 1: that I was laughing, and probably at the toes. Still
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  Speaker 1: he continued to twist them around, one under the other
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  Speaker 1: in an astonishing way that made them fascinating the head
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  Speaker 1: of the chain. The pompous man became ominously silent. At last,
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  Speaker 1: I said, almost sobbing. Can't you see for yourself how
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  Speaker 1: funny all those things are in front of us. They
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  Speaker 1: looked like wings in their pin feather stage, only they
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  Speaker 1: are on the wrong side. And I am wondering if
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  Speaker 1: the black stockings would make real black wings, and what
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  Speaker 1: some of us would do with them. After all, After
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  Speaker 1: that there was less pompous dignity and less hysteria, although
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  Speaker 1: the toes continued to wigwag. It is a sight that
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  Speaker 1: repays one to watch when dozens of these chains, some long,
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  Speaker 1: some short, are paddling about on the blue water that
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  Speaker 1: is often without a ripple. It is impossible to drown,
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  Speaker 1: for sink in it. You cannot but to get the
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  Speaker 1: brining one's nose and throat as dangerous as it easily
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  Speaker 1: causes strangulation, particularly if the person is at all nervous.
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  Speaker 1: We wear little bits of cotton in our ears to
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  Speaker 1: prevent the water from getting in, for the crust of
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  Speaker 1: salt it would leave might cause intense pain. Bathing in
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  Speaker 1: water so salt makes one both hungry and sleepy. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: it is considered quite the correct thing to eat hot
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  Speaker 1: popcorn and snooze. On the return trip, we get the
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  Speaker 1: popcorn at the pavilion, put up in attractive little bags,
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  Speaker 1: and it is always crisp and delicious. Just imagine a long,
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  Speaker 1: open car full of people, each man, woman and child
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  Speaker 1: greedily munching the tender corn. By the time one bagful
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  Speaker 1: has been eaten, heads begin to wobble, and soon there
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  Speaker 1: is a land of nod, real nod too. Some days,
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  Speaker 1: when the air is particularly soft and balmy, everyone in
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  Speaker 1: the car will be oblivious of his whereabouts. Not one
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  Speaker 1: stop is made from the lake to the city. Faye
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  Speaker 1: and I were at the lake almost a week. Garfield
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  Speaker 1: Beach the bathing place is called, so I could make
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  Speaker 1: a few watercolor drawings early in the morning, when the
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  Speaker 1: tints on the water are so pearly and exquisitely delicate.
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  Speaker 1: During the day, the lake is usually a wonderful blue,
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  Speaker 1: deep and brilliant, and the colors at sunset are past description.
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  Speaker 1: The sun disappears back of the Okira Mountains in a
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  Speaker 1: world of glorious yellow and orange, and as twilight comes on,
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  Speaker 1: the mountains take on violet and purple shades that become
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  Speaker 1: deeper and deeper until night covers all from sight. There
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  Speaker 1: was not a vacant room at Garfield Beach, so they
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  Speaker 1: gave us two large rooms at black Rock, almost one
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  Speaker 1: mile away, but on the car line. The rooms were
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  Speaker 1: in a low, long building that might easily be mistaken
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  Speaker 1: for soldiers barracks, and which had broad verandas with low
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  Speaker 1: roofs all along both sides. That queer building had been
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  Speaker 1: built by Brigham Young for his seven wives. It consisted
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  Speaker 1: of seven apartments of two rooms each, a sitting room
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  Speaker 1: and a sleeping room. All the sitting rooms were on
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  Speaker 1: one side, opening out upon the one veranda, and the
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  Speaker 1: bedrooms were on the other side and opened out upon
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  Speaker 1: the other verandah. These apartments did not connect in any
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  Speaker 1: way except by the two porches. Not far from that
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  Speaker 1: building was another that had once been the dining room
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  Speaker 1: and kitchen of the seven wives. Those Mormon women must
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  Speaker 1: be simply idiotic or have their tempers under good control.
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  Speaker 1: It was almost interesting and a remarkable experience to have
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  Speaker 1: lived in one of Brigham Young's very own houses. But
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  Speaker 1: the place was ghostly, lonesome beyond everything, and when the
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  Speaker 1: wind moaned and sighed through the rooms. One could fancy
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  Speaker 1: it was the wailing of the spirits of those seven
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  Speaker 1: wretched wives. When we returned at night to the dark,
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  Speaker 1: unoccupied building, it seemed more spooky than ever. After the
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  Speaker 1: music and light at Garfield Beach, our meals were served
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  Speaker 1: to us at the restaurant at the pavilion. I made
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  Speaker 1: some very good sketches of the lake and island, and
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  Speaker 1: a number of the wonderful black rock that is out
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  Speaker 1: in the lake. Opposite the Brigham Young House. About two
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  Speaker 1: miles from the city and upon the side of the
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  Speaker 1: Wahsatch Mountains is Camp Douglas, an army post which the
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  Speaker 1: new Department commander came to inspect. The inspection was in
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  Speaker 1: the morning, and we all went to see it and
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  Speaker 1: were driven in the post with the booming of cannon,
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  Speaker 1: the salute always given a brigadier general when he enters
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  Speaker 1: a post. Officially, it was pretty to see the general's
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  Speaker 1: wife partly cover her ears and pretend that she did
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  Speaker 1: not like the noise, when all the time her eyes
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  Speaker 1: were sparkling, and we knew that every roar of the
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  Speaker 1: big guns added to her pride. If all those guns
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  Speaker 1: had been for Fay, I could never have stayed in
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  Speaker 1: the ambulance. It is charming up there in the post,
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  Speaker 1: and the view is magnificent. We sat out on a
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  Speaker 1: vine covered porch during the inspection and watched the troops
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  Speaker 1: and the review. It made me so happy and yet
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  Speaker 1: so homesick too, to see Fate once more in his uniform.
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  Speaker 1: The inspection was all too short, and after it was over,
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  Speaker 1: many officers and their wives came to call upon us.
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  Speaker 1: When wine and delicious cake was served, we were at
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  Speaker 1: the quarters of the Colonel and post commander. That was
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  Speaker 1: the second post we had taken missus ord to, and
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  Speaker 1: she is suddenly enthusiastic over army people, forgetting that Omaha
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  Speaker 1: has a post of its own. But with us, she
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  Speaker 1: has been in the tale of the Comet, which made
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  Speaker 1: things more interesting. Army people are nice, though, particularly in
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  Speaker 1: their own little garrison homes. There is only one Mormon's
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  Speaker 1: store here, and that is very large and cooperative. Every
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  Speaker 1: Mormon who has anything whatever to sell is compelled to
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  Speaker 1: take it to that store to be appraised and a
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  Speaker 1: percentage taken from it. There are a few nice gentile shops,
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  Speaker 1: but Mormons cannot enter them. They can purchase only at
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  Speaker 1: the Mormons store, where the gentiles are ever cordially welcomed. Also,
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  Speaker 1: splendid fruit and vegetables are grown in this valley, especially
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  Speaker 1: the fruit, which is superior to any we ever saw.
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  Speaker 1: The grapes are of many varieties, each one large and
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  Speaker 1: rich with flavor. And the peaches and big yellow pears
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  Speaker 1: are most luscious. Upon our table down in the dining
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  Speaker 1: room there is always an immense glass bowl of selected fruit, peaches, pears,
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  Speaker 1: and grapes, and each time we go down it seems
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  Speaker 1: to look more attractive. We have been to see the Tabernacle,
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  Speaker 1: with its marvelous acoustic properties, and the temple, which is
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  Speaker 1: not yet finished. The immense pipe organ in the tabernacle
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  Speaker 1: was built where it now stands, and entirely by Mormons.
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  Speaker 1: From Brigham Young's old home. A grand boulevard runs through
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  Speaker 1: the city, across the valley and over the hill. Far away,
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  Speaker 1: and how much beyond I do not know. This road,
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  Speaker 1: so broad and white, Brigham Young said, would lead to Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: They have a river Jordan here too, a little stream
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  Speaker 1: that runs just outside the city. There are grand trees
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  Speaker 1: in every street and every old yard, and one cannot
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  Speaker 1: help feeling great indignation to see where in some places
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  Speaker 1: the incoming Gentiles have cut trees down to make space
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  Speaker 1: for modern, showy buildings that are so wholly out of
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  Speaker 1: harmony with the low, artistic white houses and vine covered walls.
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  Speaker 1: It is such a pity that these high red buildings
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  Speaker 1: could not have been kept outside, and the old Mormon
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  Speaker 1: city left in its original quaint beauty. We will return
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  Speaker 1: to Omaha soon now, and I shall at once become
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  Speaker 1: busy with preparations for the winter east. I have decided
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  Speaker 1: to go home in October so I can have a long,
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  Speaker 1: comfortable visit before going to Washington. Fay wishes me to
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  Speaker 1: join him there the last of December. I am not
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  Speaker 1: very enthusiastic over the prospect of crowded rooms, daily receptions
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  Speaker 1: and teas, and other affairs of more formality, But since
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  Speaker 1: I cannot return to the plains, I might as well
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  Speaker 1: go to the city, where we will meet people of culture,
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  Speaker 1: see the fascinating diplomatic corps, and be presented to the
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  Speaker 1: President's beautiful young wife. Later on there will be the inauguration.
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  Speaker 1: For we expect to pass the winter in Washington. End
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  Speaker 1: of Section twenty two. End of Army Letters from an
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  Speaker 1: Officer's Wife eighteen seventy one eighteen eighty eight by Francis Rowe,