The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-06-03
That was the secret Of nv success with

4sJ 10 'He -s -egv thai three
.aE5i..s .l-.. nId tracked
- 40 discovery, n"wryer. They
y,4iid have iooNrii to- m- liz sciiools or
summaries, where my accomplishments
.l;ted ne 10 LABOR; bus ina work-rnom,
eve
Three months ago!-and my mind
went back over the strange abyss that
had opened between mt and my home.
1t was really a home, the first time l
had possessed u since my married life
began; tor who a take root III the
transient abiding places of a military
life? In the first place, a l~1eutenant's
family, if the post is at all crowded, have
but two rooms allowed them; and If
there are but one or two besides your
own, and room is plenty, there is always
a superabundance of unmarried men,
lounging about with their time on their
hands, forever intruding on your domes-
tic arrangements, wanting you to play
chess, or to practice a duet with their
tiresome flutes, or else dragging your
husband off just as you are comfortably
settled for the morning, a well-flled bas-
ket of work before you, and a new book
with which he has promised to beguile
Tia monotony of seams
This was my experience, at least
There is so much gossip at a post 1t is
worse than six villages. We have all the
| intimacy of a family, without the kindly
charities of kinsfolk. that forbears to
speak of failings, and covers errors. An
officers wife, if she is at all agreeable,
is terribly exposed to this camp fever"
between the idleness and the bragga-
docio of the men and the prying jealousy
| of their wives and sisters and the female
community generally, who have little to
| occupy them, if they are not particularly
domestic.
That was the way in which Frederick
first became annoyed with Captain Bart,
let's attentions. Miss Craige, the sister
of Colonel Craige, who vas our com
handing officer at Fort Douglas, made
such disagreeable remarks, when she
found him quietly established in our sit,
ting-room one afternoon. Frederick had
just been called out to the hospital, and
it would have been very rude in me,
when nv husband left, to invite his Wis
itor to follow him, if he had not chosen
to. Isaw Miss Craige picking her way
across the parade ground, for we had had
a heavy shower-Captain Bartlett being
driven in by stress of weather.
Dear ME, how comfortable You people
look !" and she gave such an emphasis to
what she said by her expression cts
we'll Mr.. Lenox is not a jealous man -
And with that Frederick came in again.
II was Just saying, Mr.. Lenox, it's
well you are not a Jealous man; your
wife and Captain Bartlett were seated so
costly when / came in"
We had not moved our positions, or eX
changed six words, before her arrival;
but the impertinance made my face
flush, though l knew very well that
it was only jealousy on her part. She
had been coquetting with him ever
since her arrival from Philadelphia
Nv face grew hot, the more so at Fred
erick's look Of vexatiOn. And then, too,
1 met a quick, eager glance from our Wis
itor-Captain Bartlett, | ~mean-which |
scarcely knew how to understand. IL
was certainly a very embarrassing posi-
ton, for 1 felt how readily my husbands
one weakness was aroused. 1t was not
possible for me to return a bantering re-
ply, and I sat quite silent, and left the
conversation TO them.
l knew perfectly well that Frederick
would be moody and disagrecable after
they had left. Our pleasant afternoon
was spoiled. and Il scene of bitterness
and recrimination took place which was
entirely new in our family history. Ii
ended as the same thing had done before,
Frederick asking my pardon for unjust
suspicious, confessing the demon that
haunted his life, and promising never to
wrong me so again.
he really meant TO keep his promise,
no doubt, and l believed then that he
would. A very happy time passed after
Miss Craig left. and Captain Bartlett es,
corted her, on leave. But the cloud re-
turned again and again, on snch slight
provocatiOn and at such unexpected
times, that | grew quite disheartened and
gave back bitterness for bitterness One
thing only at all accounted for this per
petual injustice, and helped me toeudnre
it. 1t seemed "A retribution for the tault
of my youth, and, in some sort. an ex
patton | had been a coqnette-fond Of
power and conquest from vanity only,
and not from an evil heart | liked 10
feel that my eyes We're lures; the tnuch
of my hand enchantment, that, when ]
willed it. whoever | desired to ensnare
should acknowledge himself my captive.
My wit, my voice, my very movements
were perverted to this base use. How
base | never knew until / became Fred
erick's wife, and loved him with my
whole heart, and heard how men spoke
of those who led the same life to the
same end! l told my husband all-my
very lightest words and freest acts-and
he knew my heart was pure and all his
own; yet still the knowledge of what had
been haunted him.
When we were ordered to Fort Tripler
(of course / do not give the real names
of our posts it was such a comfort to
have a home of our own once more! The
foundations only were laid; so we had a
neat little cottage. and settled down to
home life, quite as happily and pleasant
ly as any cirilians could have done. 1t is
proverbial that constructing a fort is a
life appointment; and as long as General
Granger-into whose hands it had fallen
was satisfied with Frederick, there Was
little danger of his removal. So l made
such a home as we had never had before;
unpacked books, and pictures and orna-
ments that had not seen the light since
u wedding-day; and sent home for my
piano, my own and my mothers por-
trait, and all the little possessions my
step-mother had preserved for me.