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15 - 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 fifteen of Army Letters from an Officer's Wife eighteen
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  Speaker 1: 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 fifteen
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  Speaker 1: Letters from eighteen eighty two, Part two, Camp on Birch Creek,
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  Speaker 1: Neupegan Agency, Montana Territory, September eighteen eighty two. By this
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  Speaker 1: time you must have become accustomed to getting letters from
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  Speaker 1: all sorts of out of the way places. Therefore, I
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  Speaker 1: will not weary you with long explanations, but simply say
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  Speaker 1: that Major Stokes and Faye sent for Missus Stokes and
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  Speaker 1: me to come to camp, thinking to give us a
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  Speaker 1: pleasant little outing. We came over. The paymaster and his escort,
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  Speaker 1: Major Carpenter, seemed delighted to have us with him, and
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  Speaker 1: naturally Missus Stokes and I were in a humor to
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  Speaker 1: enjoy everything. We've brought a nice little luncheon with us
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  Speaker 1: for everybody that is everyone in the ambulance. The escort
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  Speaker 1: of enlisted men were in a wagon back of us,
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  Speaker 1: but the officer in charge was with us. The Indians
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  Speaker 1: have quieted down and several of the officers have gone
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  Speaker 1: on leave. So with the two companies now here, there
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  Speaker 1: are only Major Stokes, who is in command, Faye, Lieutenant Todd,
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  Speaker 1: and Doctor Norton. Missus Stokes has seen much of camp
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  Speaker 1: life and enjoys it now and then much as I do.
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  Speaker 1: The importance of our husbands as hosts. Their many efforts
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  Speaker 1: to make us comfortable and entertain us is amusing yet
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  Speaker 1: very lovely. They give us no rest whatever. But as
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  Speaker 1: soon as we return from one little excursion, another is
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  Speaker 1: immediately proposed. There is a little spring wagon en camp
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  Speaker 1: with two seats, and there are two fine mules to
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  Speaker 1: pull it. And with this really comfortable turnout, we drive
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  Speaker 1: about the country. Major Stokes is military Inspector of supplies
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  Speaker 1: at this agency, and every Pagan knows him. So when
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  Speaker 1: we meet Indians, as we do often, there is always
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  Speaker 1: a pow wow. Three days ago we packed the little
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  Speaker 1: wagon with wraps and other things, and Major and Missus Stokes,
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  Speaker 1: Faye and I started for a two days outing at
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  Speaker 1: a little lake that is nestled far up on the
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  Speaker 1: side of a mountain. It is about ten miles from here.
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  Speaker 1: There is only a wagon trail leading to it. And
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  Speaker 1: as you go on up and up and see nothing
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  Speaker 1: but rocks and trees, it would never occur to you
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  Speaker 1: that the steep slope of the mountain could be broken,
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  Speaker 1: that a lake of good size could be hidden on
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  Speaker 1: its side. You do not get a glimpse of it
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  Speaker 1: at once until you drive between the bushes and boulders
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  Speaker 1: that border its bank, and then it is all before
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  Speaker 1: you in amazing beauty. The reflections are wonderful, the high
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  Speaker 1: light showing with exquisite sharpness against the dark green and
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  Speaker 1: purple depths of the clear spring water. The lake is
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  Speaker 1: fearfully deep. The Indians insist that in places it is bottomless,
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  Speaker 1: and it is teeming with trout, the most delicious mountain
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  Speaker 1: trout that can be caught any place, and which come
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  Speaker 1: up so cold one can easily fancy there is an
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  Speaker 1: iceberg somewhere down below. Some of these fish are fourteen
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  Speaker 1: or more inches long. It was rather late in the
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  Speaker 1: afternoon when we reached the lake, so we hurriedly got
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  Speaker 1: ourselves ready for fishing, for we were thinking of a
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  Speaker 1: trout dinner. Four enlisted men had followed us with a wagon,
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  Speaker 1: in which were our tents, bedding, and boxes of provisions.
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  Speaker 1: And these men busied themselves at once by putting up
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  Speaker 1: the little tents and making preparations for dinner. And we
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  Speaker 1: were anxious to get enough fish for their dinner as
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  Speaker 1: well as our own. At a little landing we found
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  Speaker 1: two row boats, and getting in these, we were soon
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  Speaker 1: out on the lake. If one goes to fish lake
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  Speaker 1: just for sport and can be contented with taking in
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  Speaker 1: two or three fish during an all days hard work,
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  Speaker 1: flies should be used always. But if one gets up
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  Speaker 1: there when the shadows are long, and one's dinner is
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  Speaker 1: depending upon the fish caught, one might as well begin
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  Speaker 1: at once with grasshoppers. At least that is what I did.
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  Speaker 1: I carried a box of fine yellow grasshoppers up with me,
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  Speaker 1: and I cast one over. Before the boat had fairly
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  Speaker 1: settled in position, it was seized the instant it had
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  Speaker 1: touched the water, and down, down went the trout, its
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  Speaker 1: white sides glistening through the clear water. For some reason
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  Speaker 1: still unaccountable, I let it go and yard after yard
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  Speaker 1: of line was perhaps after all, it was fascination that
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  Speaker 1: kept me from stopping the plunge of the fish that
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  Speaker 1: never stopped until the entire line was let out. That
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  Speaker 1: brought me to my senses, and I reeled the fish
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  Speaker 1: up and got a fine trout. But I also got
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  Speaker 1: at the same time an uncontrollable longing for land. To
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  Speaker 1: be in a leaky, shaky old boat over a watery,
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  Speaker 1: bottomless pit as the one that trout had been down
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  Speaker 1: in was more than I could calmly endure. So with
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  Speaker 1: undisguised disgust, Faye rowed me back to the landing, where
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  Speaker 1: I caught quite as many fish as anyone out in
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  Speaker 1: the boats. One of the enlisted men prepared dinner for
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  Speaker 1: us and fried the trout in olive oil, the most
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  Speaker 1: perfect way of cooking mountain trout in camp. They were delicious,
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  Speaker 1: so fresh from the icy water that none of their
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  Speaker 1: delicate flavor had been lost, and were chrisp and hot.
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  Speaker 1: We had cups of steaming coffee and all sorts of
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  Speaker 1: nice things from the boxes we had brought from the post.
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  Speaker 1: A flat bowlder made a grand table for us, and
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  Speaker 1: of course each one had his little campstool to sit upon. Altogether,
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  Speaker 1: the dinner was a success, the best part of it
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  Speaker 1: being perhaps the exhilarating mountain air that gave us such
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  Speaker 1: fine appetites and a keen appreciation of everything ludicrous. While
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  Speaker 1: we were fishing, our tents had been arranged for us
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  Speaker 1: in real soldier fashion. Great bunches of long grass had
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  Speaker 1: been piled up on each side underneath the little mattresses,
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  Speaker 1: which raised the beds from the ground and made them
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  Speaker 1: soft and springy. Those A tents are very small and low,
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  Speaker 1: and it is impossible to stand up in one, except
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  Speaker 1: in the center under the ridgepole, for the canvas is
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  Speaker 1: stretched from the ridge pole to the ground, so the
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  Speaker 1: only walls are back and front where there is an opening.
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  Speaker 1: I had never been in one before and was rather
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  Speaker 1: appalled at its limitations, and neither had I ever slept
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  Speaker 1: on the ground before. But I had gone prepared for
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  Speaker 1: a rough outing. Besides, I knew that everything possible had
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  Speaker 1: been done to make Missus Stokes and me comfortable. The
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  Speaker 1: air was chilly up on the mountain, but we had
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  Speaker 1: any number of heavy blankets that kept us warm. The
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  Speaker 1: night was glorious, with brilliant moonlight and The shadows of
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  Speaker 1: the pine trees on the white canvas were black and
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  Speaker 1: wonderfully clear cut. As the wind swayed the branches back
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  Speaker 1: and forth. The sounds of the wind were dismal, sowing
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  Speaker 1: and moaning, as all mountain winds do, and made me
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  Speaker 1: think of the bogey Man and other things. I found
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  Speaker 1: myself wondering if anything could crawl under the tent at
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  Speaker 1: my side. I wondered if snakes could have been brought
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  Speaker 1: in with the grass. I imagined that I heard things
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  Speaker 1: moving about, But all the time I was watching those
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  Speaker 1: exquisite shadows of the pine needles in a dreamy sort
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  Speaker 1: of way. Then all at once I saw the shadow
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  Speaker 1: of one, then three things, as they ran up the
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  Speaker 1: canvas and darted this way and that, like crazy things,
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  Speaker 1: and which could not possibly have grown on a pine tree.
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  Speaker 1: And almost at the same instant something pulled my hair
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  Speaker 1: with a scream and scramble. I was soon out of
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  Speaker 1: that tent. But of course when I moved, all those
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  Speaker 1: things had moved too, and wholly disappeared. So I was
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  Speaker 1: called foolish to be afraid in a tent. After the
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  Speaker 1: weeks and months I had lived in camp, but just
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  Speaker 1: then Missus Stokes ran from her tent, Major Stokes slowly following,
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  Speaker 1: And then it came out there had been trouble over
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  Speaker 1: there also, and that I was not the only one
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  Speaker 1: in disgrace. Missus Stokes had seen queer shadows on her canvas,
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  Speaker 1: and coming to me said, Will said, those things are squirrels.
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  Speaker 1: That was too much, and I replied with indignation, they
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  Speaker 1: are not squirrels at all. They are too small, and
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  Speaker 1: their tails are not bushy. Well, there was a time
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  Speaker 1: we refused, absolutely positively to go back to our tents
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  Speaker 1: until we knew all about those darting shadows. We saw
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  Speaker 1: that those two disagreeable men had an understanding with each
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  Speaker 1: other and were much inclined to laugh. It was cold,
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  Speaker 1: and our wrappers not very warm, but Missus Stokes and
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  Speaker 1: I finally sat down upon some campstools to await events.
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  Speaker 1: Then Faye, who can never resist an opportunity to tease,
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  Speaker 1: said to me, you had better take care. Mice might
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  Speaker 1: run up that stool. So the cat was out. I
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  Speaker 1: have never been afraid of mice, and have always considered
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  Speaker 1: it very silly in women to make such a fuss
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  Speaker 1: over them. But those field mice were different. They seemed
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  Speaker 1: in clined to take the very hair from your head.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, we could not sit up all night, and
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  Speaker 1: after a time had to return to our tents. I
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  Speaker 1: wrapped my head up securely so my hair could not
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  Speaker 1: be carried off without my knowing something about it. Ever,
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  Speaker 1: so many times during the night I heard talking and
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  Speaker 1: smothered laughter, and concluded that the soldiers also were having
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  Speaker 1: small visitors with four swift little legs. We had more
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  Speaker 1: delicious trout for our breakfast that time, fried with tiny
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  Speaker 1: strips of breakfast bacon. The men had been out on
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  Speaker 1: the lake very early and had caught several dozen beautiful fish.
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  Speaker 1: The dinner the evening before had been much like an
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  Speaker 1: ordinary picnic, but the early breakfast up on the side
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  Speaker 1: of a mountain with big bowlers all around, was something
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  Speaker 1: to remember. One can never imagine the deliciousness of the
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  Speaker 1: air at sunrise up on the rocky mountains. It has
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  Speaker 1: to be breathed to be appreciated. Everyone fished during the morning,
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  Speaker 1: and many fish were caught, every one of which were
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  Speaker 1: carefully packed in wet grass and brought to Birch Creek
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  Speaker 1: to the unfortunates who had not been on that most
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  Speaker 1: delightful trip to fish Lake. After luncheon, we came down
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  Speaker 1: from the mountain and drove to the peg In Agency.
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  Speaker 1: The heavy wagon came directly to camp. Of course, there
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  Speaker 1: is nothing remarkable to be seen at the agency, just
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  Speaker 1: a number of ordinary buildings, a few huts, and Indians
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  Speaker 1: standing around the door of a store that resembles a
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  Speaker 1: post traders. Every Indian had on a blanket, although Major
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  Speaker 1: Stokes said there were several among them who had been
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  Speaker 1: to the Carlisle School. Along the road before we reached
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  Speaker 1: the agency, and for some distance after we had left it,
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  Speaker 1: we passed a number of little, one room log huts
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  Speaker 1: occupied by Indians, often with two squaws and large families
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  Speaker 1: of children. And at some of these we sought wretched
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  Speaker 1: attempt at gardening. These Indians are provided with plows, spades,
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  Speaker 1: and all sorts of implements necessary for the making of
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  Speaker 1: proper gardens, and they are given grain and seeds to plant,
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  Speaker 1: but seldom are any of these things made use of,
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  Speaker 1: and Indian scorns work of any kind that is only
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  Speaker 1: for squaws. The squaws will scratch up a bit of
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  Speaker 1: ground with sticks, put a little seed in, and then
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  Speaker 1: leave it for the sun and rain to do with
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  Speaker 1: it as it sees fit. No more attention will be
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  Speaker 1: paid to it, and half the time the seed is
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  Speaker 1: not covered. One old chief raised some wheat one year.
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  Speaker 1: I presume his squaws did all the work, and he
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  Speaker 1: gathered several sackfuls, which was made into flour at the
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  Speaker 1: agency mill. The chief was very proud, but when the
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  Speaker 1: next quarterly issue came around, his ration of flour was lessened,
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  Speaker 1: just the amount his wheat had made, which decided all
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  Speaker 1: future farming for him. Why should he a chief trouble
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  Speaker 1: himself learning to farm and then gain nothing in the end.
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  Speaker 1: There is a fine threshing machine at the agency, but
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  Speaker 1: the Indians will have nothing whatever to do with it.
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  Speaker 1: They cannot understand its workings and call it the devil machine.
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  Speaker 1: As we were nearing the Indian village across the creek
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  Speaker 1: from us, we came to a most revolting spectacle. Two
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  Speaker 1: or three Indians had just killed an ox and were
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  Speaker 1: slashing and cutting off pieces of the almost quivering flesh
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  Speaker 1: in a way that left little pools of blood in places.
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  Speaker 1: On the side. There were two squaws with them, squatted
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  Speaker 1: on the ground by the dead animal, and those hideous,
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  Speaker 1: fiendish creatures were scooping up the warm blood with their
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  Speaker 1: hands and greedily drinking it. Can one imagine anything more horrible.
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  Speaker 1: We stopped only a second, but the scene was too
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  Speaker 1: repulsive to be forgotten. It makes me shiver even now
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  Speaker 1: when I think of the flashing of those big knives,
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  Speaker 1: and of how each one of the savages seemed to
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  Speaker 1: be reveling in the smell and taste of blood. I
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  Speaker 1: feel that they could have slashed and cut into one
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  Speaker 1: of us with the same relish. It was much like
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  Speaker 1: seeing a murder committed. Major Stokes told us last evening
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  Speaker 1: that when he returned from the East a few weeks ago,
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  Speaker 1: he discovered that one of a pair of beautiful pistols
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  Speaker 1: that had been presented to him had been stolen. That
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  Speaker 1: some one had gone upstairs and taken it out of
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  Speaker 1: the case that was in a closet corresponding to mine.
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  Speaker 1: So that accounts for the footsteps I heard in that
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  Speaker 1: house the night the man entered Missus Norton's house. But
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  Speaker 1: how did the man know just where to get a pistol?
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  Speaker 1: The hospital attendant who was suspected that night got his
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  Speaker 1: discharge a few days later, He stayed around the garrison
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  Speaker 1: so long that finally Colonel Gregory ordered him to leave
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  Speaker 1: the reservation, and just before coming from the post, we
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  Speaker 1: heard that he had shot a man and was in jail,
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  Speaker 1: a very good place for him. I think we expect
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  Speaker 1: to return to the post in a few days. I
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  Speaker 1: would like to remain longer, but as everybody and everything
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  Speaker 1: will go, I can't very well. The trout fishing in
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  Speaker 1: Birch Creek is very good, and I often go for
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  Speaker 1: a little fish, sometimes alone, and sometimes Missus Stokes will
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  Speaker 1: go with me. I do not go far because of
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  Speaker 1: the dreadful Indians that are always wandering about. They have
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  Speaker 1: a small village across the creek from us, and every
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  Speaker 1: evening we hear their tom toms as they chant and dance,
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  Speaker 1: and when the wind is from that direction, we get
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  Speaker 1: a smell now and then of their dirty teepees. Major
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  Speaker 1: Stokes and Missus Stokes also see the noble side of Indians,
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  Speaker 1: but that side has always been so covered with blankets
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  Speaker 1: and other dirty things. I have never found it. End
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  Speaker 1: of letter, Fort Shaw, Montana Territory, November eighteen eighty two.
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  Speaker 1: You will be shocked, I know when you hear that
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  Speaker 1: we are houseless, homeless, that for the second time Faye
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  Speaker 1: has been ranked out of quarters at camp. Supply, the
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  Speaker 1: turnout was swift, but this time it has been long
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  Speaker 1: drawn out and most vexatious. Last month Major Bagley came
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  Speaker 1: here from Fort mc Ginnis, and as we had rather
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  Speaker 1: expected that he would select our house, we made no
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: preparations for winter previous to his coming. But as soon
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  Speaker 1: as he reached the post, and many times after, he
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  Speaker 1: assured Faye that nothing could possibly induce him to disturb us,
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  Speaker 1: and said many more sweet things. Unfortunately for us, he
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  Speaker 1: was ordered to return to Fort mc ginness to straighten
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  Speaker 1: out some of his accounts, while Quartermaster and Missus Bagley
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  Speaker 1: decided to remain as she was until Major Bagley's return.
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  Speaker 1: He was away one month, and during that time the
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  Speaker 1: gardener stored away in our little cellar our vegetable for
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  Speaker 1: the winter, including quantities of beautiful celery that was packed
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  Speaker 1: in boxes. All those things had to be taken down
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  Speaker 1: a ladder, which made it really very hard work. Having
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: fate in Major Bagley's word, the house was cleaned from
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  Speaker 1: top to bottom, much painting and calciumoning having been done.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: All the floors were painted and hard oiled, and everyone
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: knows what discomfort that always brings about. But at last
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: everything was finished, and we were about to settle down
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  Speaker 1: to the enjoyment of a tidy, cheerful little home when
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Major Bagley appeared the second time, and within two hours
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Faye was notified that his quarters had been selected by him.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: We are at present in two rooms and a shed
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  Speaker 1: that happened to be unoccupied, and I feel very much
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: as though I was in a second hand shop. Things
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: are piled up to the ceiling in both rooms, and
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: the shed is full. Also, all of the vegetables were
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: brought up from the cellar, of course, and as the
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: weather has been very cold, the cellery and other tender
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: things were frozen. General and Missus Bork have returned and
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: at once insisted upon our going to their house, But
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: as there was nothing definite about the time when we
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: will get our house, we said no. We are taking
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: our meals with them, however, and hang is there also
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: teaching their new Chinamen. But I can assure you that
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I am more than cross if Major Bagley had selected
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: the house the first time he came, or even if
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: he had said nothing at all about the quarters. Much
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: discomfort and unpleasantness would have been avoided. They will get
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  Speaker 1: our nice clean house, and we will get one that
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: will require the same renovating we have just been struggling with.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: I have made up my mind unalterably to one thing.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: The nice little dinner I had expected to give Major
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  Speaker 1: and Missus Bagley later on will be for other people,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: friends who have less honey to dispose of. The splendid
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: hunting was interrupted by the move too. Every October in
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: this country we have a snowstorm that lasts usually three
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: or four days. Then the snow disappears and there is
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: a second fall, with clear sunny days until the holidays.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: This year the weather remained warm and the storm was
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: later than usual, but more severe when it did come,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: driving thousands of waterfowl down with a rush from the
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: mountain streams and lakes. There is a slew around a
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: little plateau near the post, and for a week or
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: more was teeming with all sorts of ducks until it
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: was frozen over. Sometimes we would see several species quietly
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: feeding together in the most friendly way. Faye and I
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: would drive the horses down in the cutter and I
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: would hold them while he walked on ahead, hunting. One
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  Speaker 1: day when the snow was falling in big moist flakes
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  Speaker 1: that were so thick that the world had been narrowed
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  Speaker 1: down to a few yards around us. We drove to
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: some tall bushes growing on the bank of the slough.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Fay was hunting and about to make some ducks rise
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: when he heard a great whirr over his head, and
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: although the snow was so thick, he could not see
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: just what was there. He quickly raised his gun and
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: fired at something he saw moving up there. To his
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: great amazement and my horror, an immense swan dropped down
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and went crashing through the bushes. It was quite as
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: white as the snow on the ground, and coming from
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the dense cloud of snow above, where no warning of
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: its presence had been given, no call sounded, one felt
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: that there was something queer about it all. With its
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: enormous wings spread, it looked like an angel coming to
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: the earth. The horses thought so also, for as soon
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: as it touched the bushes they bolted, and for a
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: few minutes I was doubtful if I could hold them.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: I was so vexed with them, too, for I wanted
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to see that splendid bird. They went around and around
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: the plateau, and about all I was able to do
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: at first was to keep them from going to the post.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: They finally came down to a trot, but it was
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: some time before I could coax them to go to
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the bushes where the swan had fallen. I did not
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: blame them much, for when the big bird came down
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: it seemed as if the very heavens were falling. We
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: supplied our friends with ducks several days, and upon our
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: own dinner table, duck was served ten successive days, and
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: it was just as acceptable the last day as the first,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: for almost every time there was a different variety, the
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: cinnamon perhaps being the most rare. Last year. Hang was
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: very contrary about the packing down of the eggs for
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: winter use. I always put them in salt, but he
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: thought they should be put in boats, because Missus Pierce
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: had packed hers that way. You know, he had been
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Missus Pearce's cook two years before he came to me,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: and for a time he made me weary telling how
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: she had things done. Finally I told him he must
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: do as I said, that he was my cook. Now
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: there was peace for a while, and then came the eggs.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: He would not do one thing to assist me, not
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: even take down the eggs, and looked at Vulmar with scorn.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: When he carried down the boxes and salt. I said nothing,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: knowing what the result would be later on if Hang
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: remained with me. When the cold weather came and no
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: more fresh eggs were brought in, it was astonishing to
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: see how many things that stubborn Chinaman could make without
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: any eggs at all. Get them out of the salt.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: He simply would not. Of course, that could not continue forever.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: So one day I brought some up and left them
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: on his table without saying a word. He used them,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: and after that there was no trouble. And one day
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: in the spring he brought in to show me some
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: beautifully beaten eggs and said, fairly good. Alli, same fresh
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: this fall. When the time came to pack eggs, I said, Hang,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: perhaps we better pack the eggs and oats this year.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: He said, nah, oaths, no good. Then came my revenge.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I said, missus Pierce puts hers and oats. But he
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: became angry and said, yes me, no, missy Pierce, no,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: no salt. Make him ally same fresh and in salt
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: they are, and hang packed every one. I offered to
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: show him how to do it, but he said me no.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: You see, it gave him such a fine opportunity to dictate.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: The vulmer. If the striker did not bring the eggs
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the very moment he thought they should be in hang
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: would look him up and say, you bling eggs. Just
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: where those boxes of eggs are? I do not know.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: The Jinnaman has spirited them off to some place where
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: they will not freeze. He cannot understand all this ranking
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: out of quarters, particularly after he had put the house
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: in perfect order. When I told him to sweep the
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: rooms after everything had been carried out, he said, what
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: for you? Cleaning house? Enough for him? He no care,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: and off he went. I am inclined to think the
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: little man was right. After all, there have been many
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: changes in the garrison during the past few months, and
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: a number of our friends have gone to other posts.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Colonel and Missus Palmer, Major and Missus Pearce, and doctor
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: and Missus Gordon are no longer here. We have lost consequently,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: both of our fine tenors and excellent organists, and our
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: little choir is not good now. Some of us will
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: miss in other ways Colonel Palmer's cultivated voice. During the summer,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: four of us found much pleasure in practicing together the
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: light operas, each one learning the one voice through out
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the entire opera. When we get settled, if we ever do,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: we will be at our old end of the garrison again,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: and our neighbors on either side will be charming people.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: There is some consolation in that. Nevertheless, I am thinking
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: all the time of the pretty walls and shiny floors
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: we had to give up, and to a very poor
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: housekeeper too. After we get our house, it will take
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: weeks to fix it up, and it will be impossible
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: to take the same interest in it that we found
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: in the first. If Faye gets his first lieutenancy in
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: the spring, it is possible that we may have to
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: go to another post, which will mean another move. But
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: I am tired and cross anyone would be under such
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable conditions. End of letter, end of section fifteen.