Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-22
Gallant Clusters Widow on Loves
Trials on the Frontier.
Pretty Girls on the Plains as Wives.
From Conservatory and Ball
Room TO a Tent Wagon.
Some OF the Trials that are Encountered in q
woman's Life of Which the World
at Large Knows but Little.
Copyrighted 1883. :

The greater portion OIL the women WHO
followed those who lied the way TO
the far West were the wives of farmers
or workingmen, accustomed to some
sort Of labor at home, or at least domes-
tic women, who used to bake, brew, and
stitch for the households; but there were
other sorts of pilgrims whose pretty feet
were imprinted in that virgin soil, who
knew little of the utilitarian side OF our
existence. These ''Iillies of the field
were the wives of our officers. A military
man is generally conceded to be the most
engaging of beings. His personal ap-
pearance takes him d long distance
on the road to favor, for he
Is trained to eTectness, to a fine
carriage of the head; his muscular
development follows on the habits Of his
active life his uniform transforms one
who might be passed by in a crowd into
cynOsure for all eyes. Add TO physique,
carriage and clothes the manner which
man in so social life as the army ac-
quires, and it Is seldom that he comes
knocking at the barely half-closed door
of a susceptible heart that it is not flung
wide to welcome him.
II our American can lee made to admit
that there is an aristocracy in the United
States, the army belongs to it. i is
one profession where money is not neces-
sary. An officer dares TO be poor, be-
cause a fortune cannot improve his social
position; il is independent Of fifty lucre-
The military man, therefore, poor as
he is is welcomed with cordially III all
the higher walks of life While among
civilians on duty, or when on leave of
absence, he is thrown among the fairest
Of % ND no of
proceeds to fall in love The father who
smiles on him would frown on a clerk
with the same salary. The paternal mind
is at rest about the daughter 5 social
standing. Computations do assaiI the
officer when the object of his alteration is
the center of ii devoted family, living in
idleness and luxury. He pictures her
enduring haTdships, and shuts his
heart against temptations. How
often l have heard him say,
"How could / have the effrontery to
ask a girl To endure our life?'' and yet in
the end they all do. When he tells a girl
that he loves her he has the grace to
mention that there are trials. The girl
usually tells him, in a wise little way, no
life is without its trials. and in accepting
him makes him sure an existence with
him, 10 matter how hard, is preferable
to a lifetime of luxury without him.
The prize he gains Is a pretty, accom-
plished, agreeable girl who knows liter
ally nothing Of the practical side of eX-
iSteuce; who very soon after her initia-
ton TO the plains would give all her
knowledge OF the piano in exchange for
the secret OF bread making; she
would barter her skill with the
brush ana pencil for the gift of
an expert needle, or the power TO cut
nd al 81 10
theless, with her charming head, empty
OF all that pertains to the prosaic side of
life and its gTinds, she is still a prize.
The daintieT and more butterfly her pre-
yiOus existence. the quicker the trans
formation into a practical housewife. l
have hardly known ii to fail that the
more luxurious her former existence, the
less mention of it and the fewer com
plants an army woman makes. These
fine, fastidious creatures, cOurted in
conservatory and won III ballroom, can
exhibit more adaptability and show more
endurance than any women / ever knew.
Our women as nation are becoming
more renowned for adaptability than all
The women the world over; and if a
young girl can come from school and fill
the highest seat in the land without an
error, or if our beautiful bellies can enter
the nobility as wives, and shine with
such effulgence at the most formal and
austeTe court in the world, why should
we not claim that there is no situation in
life that an American woman cannot
grace?
But the army woman is the most
tried, and the manner in which she meets
her sudden transition from q pTincely life
10 one of genteel pauperism places her 1t
the head of those who tit themselves into
So 4 - \,
charm all their own. She cannot only en-
uuTe what the rough pioneer woman does,
bur after she conquers the kitchen, the
needle, and the scissors, and the mystery
OF taking care of children, she can still
charm ii weary ear by her music or adOrn
her rude habitation with thework OF her
brush
What contrast can be greater than the
transition from the modern wedding,
with its lavish expenditure, the music,
flowers, gifts, splendid pOmp of the
service, the train of eTquisitely attired
bridesmaids, the crush of jewelIed and
richly dressed friends, to an army ambu-
lance, following in the dusty trail of a
long line of slow moving wagons, carry
ing supplies TO a distant territory? And
y ct this is the history of so many brave
WOMEN, ana can hardly glance
down the page of -. an army
register and ind one name ex-
empt. Since the lines Of the Pacific
roads are finished, overland travel has
OF course, greatly diminished, but there
are still Isolated posts where the bride of
military man viii, in all probability,
make her home NJ one time or another.
II may not be generally known that it
is the policy OF the government TO give
each regiment five years tour Of duty
IN department. Circumstances change
il to two years, and, even after year
in one territory, unexpected orders
transfer troops TO the Gulf of Mexico or
California, perhaps. A young army
woman holding up her roSy-tipped fingers !
to tell Of the stations n- which she has
lived, finds, even when she is bat new
camPaigner, that her fingers give out IL
keeping tally.
Governments forget that there are
such blessings as domestic life among
those VINO serve. While d woman looks
about her plain quarters il Texas and
congratuIates herself that her inventions
and devices have turned the barrack
into a honey spot, ahd reasons
20 herself Ion. if II is SO dreatIfulIV !