The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-05

ard install themselves.
e There are few army women who have not
eaten their meal, during these transition
states, off the lids of the packing boxes
which ntain their lares and penates. But
at first rebellious at having no permanent
homes, even the most domestic of women
grow fond of their half Bohemian ex-
lste nce; they love the sound of the bugle
and are ready to follow its call Co the far
ends Of the earth with the promptituds of
old soldiers. How deft aud experienc ed
they grow in directing these sudden mov es.
With what celebrity the packing is accom-
plished. With what quiet haste is the
whole family marsnaled ready for
the march. How quick and clever they get
to be IN choosing bright, pretty and pack
able things which will make dull rooms
brilliant at small expense. How wary they
become of choosing heavy furniture and
fragile bric-a-brac. No matter how beau
tiful and cheap these may be, the army
woman restraints her aesthetic love for
dainties by remembering that in the many
moves and changes incident to army life
that frail freight must be carried and its
weight paid for again and again.
THE LOVE OF HOME.
The love of home that is inherent in all
good women causes her to make a home of
her new quarters without delay-enjoy it
while she can, and philosophically abandon
it at the order to move ON. When not
actually moving an officers family is always
expecting to move, and this gives spice and
variety to life.
This, more than anything else, accounts
for the extreme hospitality and cordiality
of army people to each other. They know
that there is no time to lose in making each
others acquaintance. In civil life the for
malitieS necessary i'll making the acquaint-
ance of strangers are here MT needed. The
rank and record of every officer is known,
and he and his family are treated accord
ingly. There is bond Of fellowship even
between those who have not before been
personally known to each other which
breaks down all barriers of reserve; they
have had the same experiences; they have
been at the same garrisons; they have lived
IN the same quarters; they have mutual
friends by the hundreds. The army circle
is the only one in our new country where
social standing is so sharply and undoubt-
eddy defined as to be accepted unquestion-
ingly; and IN the matter of rank It's cum
terpart can be found only in the circles Of
royalty and nobility abroad.
WEALTH NOT NECESSARY QUALIFIC A
TON.
Clothes, fine houses and large fortune!
have nothing to do with the social standing
of an army woman; her gown may be OF
last years cut, her quarters smaller than
those of a day laborer's wife, and her nus
bands pay but that of a second lieutenant,
she is still admitted into the choicest circle,
both of civil and military life. Only her
own bad conduct, or that of her husband,
can bar her from the most exclusive sets.
This in itself is enough to make amends to
most women for the Inconvenience of pow
erty and enforced changes of home. 1t
allows her to see the world and the best
people in it, and to enlarge her circle of
friends indefi litely. 1t permits her to offer,
in an unoSteatatious manner, the best she
can give, without strain or effort.
In housekeeping many things are made
easy for her. The carpentering, painting
and mending made necessary in every
skilled soldiers who, guarded WELL must
thus do penance for tneir disobedience to
duty. They cut her wood and carry her
Goals, and tend her garden, and perform
the dozen mental services which would
otherwise require an extra servant. She
receives her table supplies at commssary's
rates, which. if she has no private
revenue of her own, enables her to
make her husbands pay buy more than it
possibly could in civil life. As her husba nd
rises i'll rank he is allowed forage for one,
aud often two, horses, whicl are kept at
the government stables and groomed by
soldiers for trifiing fee. Her quarters,
though SO often cramped ana inadequate,
have the advantage of being rent free.
Thus, were it not for those long and expen-
sive moves in which women and children
are not provided for, and which keep
officers with large families from saving a
penny, an army salary could be made quite
sufficient for comfort
MATRIMoNY DISCOURAGED.
The government has such small consider
alton for the families of officers that it
would seem that it discourages matrimony
among them altogether. But war is their
calling, says Uncle Sam, and woman's place
is not amid the smoke of powder and the
sound of drum; therefore, she who chooses
to follow one of our nations protectors
must bear her hardships uncomplainingly.
This lack of provision for women may ac-
count for the large number of bachelors in
the United States army. 1t may account
also, let me add, for the large number of
officers who are not insensible to the at
fractions of rich wives.
There comes sometimes another and a
sadder feature for the wife of an army Off
GER. 1t is when, from the bursting of a
gun, fall from his horse, or from the
whiz of an Indians bullet her husband is
carried home to her dead She is now no