Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-10-25
BRIDES IN BARRACKS.
Pretty Girls on the Plains Q.
 Wives of Army Officers.
The Widow of the Gallant Custer De- scribes Lovo's Trials on the From uer-How 8 Journey Across
 the Plains Is Made.

The greater portion of the women who followed those who lied the way' to the far West were the wives of farmers or working-men accustomed to some sort of labor at home, or at least domestic women, who were used to bake, brew and stitch for the household; but there were other sorts of pilgrims whose pretty feet were 1m- printed in that virgin soil who knew little of the utihtarian side ofour existence. These ''lilies of the field'' were the wives of our officers. A military man is generally con- ceded to be the most engaging of beings. His personal appearance takes him long distance on the road to favor, for he is trained to erectness, to fine carriage of the head; his muscular development fol- lows on the habits of his active life; his uniform transforms one who might be passed by in crowd into exposure for all eyes. Add to physique, carriage and clothes tho manner i'll winch a man in so social 8 life as the army acquires, and it Is seldom that he comes knocking at the bare ly half-closed door of a susceptible heart that it is not flung wide to welcome him.
 The military man, poor as he is, is vel comed with cordiality in all the higher walks of life While among civilians on duty, Or when on leave of absence, he is thrown among the farest women of the la0u, anu uc, Ol COu! St, ptOCccuS tO ldtl III love. The father who smiles on him would frown on clerk with the same salary. The paternal mind is at rest about the daughters social standing. Computations do assail the officer when the object of his adoration Is the center of devoted family, living in idleness and luxury. He pictures her enduring hardships, and shuts his heart against temptations. How often have heard them say: "How could have 1 tho effrontery to ask q girl to endure our i life?n and yet in the end they all do. When he tells girl that he loves her, he has the 1 grace to mention that there are trials. The girl usually tells him, in wise little way, | no life is without its trials and i'll accepting i him makes him sure an existence with him, | no matter how hard, is preferable to life | time of luxury without him.
 1 The prlze he gains is a pretty, accom- plished, agreeable girl who knows literally | nothing of the practical side of existence; who very soon after her initiation to the plains would give all her knowledge of the | piano in exchange for tho secret of bread | making; she would barter her skill with the brush and pencil for the gift of an ex- l pert needle, or the power to cut aud model | the simplest garmeat. Nevertheless, With her charming head, empty of all that per | tains to the prosaic side of life and its 1 grind, she is still prize The daintier and moro butterfly her previous existence, the quicker the trans formation into practical housewife. I have hardly known it to fail that the moro luxurious her former exist ence, the less mention of it and the fewer complaints an army woman makes. These | fine, fastidious creatures, courted in con seryatory and won in 2 ball room, can ex- | hibit more adapt ability and show more en- durance than any women ever knew.
 What contrast can be greater than tho | transition from the modern wedding, with its lavish expenditure, the music, flowers, gifts, splendid pomp of the service, the train of exquisitely attired bridesmaids, the crush of jeweled and richly-dressed friends to an army ambulance following in the dusty trail of long line of slow-moving wagons carrying supplies to a distant territory And yet this is the history of so many brave women that can hardly glance down the page of an army register and find one name exempt. Since the lines of the Pacific roads are finished, overland travel has of course greatly diminished, but there arc still iso- lated posts where the bride of military man will in all probability make her home at one time or another.
 It may not be generally known that it is the policy of the Government to give each regiment five years tour of duty in de
 partment. Circumstances change it to two years and, even after q year ln one terri tory, unexpected orders transfer troops tc the Gulf of Mexico or California, perhaps. A young army woman holding up her rosy tipped fingers to tell of the stations in which she has lived finds, even when she is but a new campaigner, that her fingers glve odt In Keeping tally.
 Governments forget that there arc such blessings as domestic life among those who
 serve While a woman looks about her plain quarters, in Texas, and congratulates
 herself that her inventions and devices have
 turned the barrack into 3 "homey'' spot,
 and reasons to herself; "0h. II It is SC
 dreadfuly Hvarm, still this is better than
 moving;n at that very moment perhaps the
 orderly crosses the parade ground with all l order for her husband to prepare to take up
 his march for some post hundreds of miles
 in the north. Possibly but few hours are
 given, and in the hurry of preparation the
 pretty devices for beautifying the home
 are torn from the walls or hurriedly junlbled
 into crowded packin cases; the choice gar 1 ments crushed into trunks; the china
 which, in her ineXperience, the young wife has btpught from home. instead of earthep
 waare; is put into barrels by ciumsy hands. Officers are seldom afraid of their dignity
 being injured by doing any sort of manual
 labor, especially if by so doing they can
 make life easier for their wives. But when
 orders come to move, their whole attention
 must be gwen to the preparation of the
 men and horses for the journey, and to the
 experimenting ot the packing of company
 papers, records and property. Conse