Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-10-25

quently, the wife Is given soldiers at 1nch Q time, whose hearts are most willing, whose awkward hands are apt to nal havoc with the household lares and penatea
 At dawn next day the ambulance in which she is to journey is brought to the door, and almost filled with the last forgot ten traps, guns, books, ammunition, baskets and boxes.
 In the first place, the ambulance in which the bride is going to travel for hundreds of miles is not a luxuriant equipage. The Government builds them for the sick, but happily there are few ill people on the frontier, and they are therefore often loaned to the officers by the Quartermaster to transport their families. The wagon is long enough to admit of two seats on the side being joined ln the middle and con- structed into a bed over six feet long, on which the wounded or sick can lie. Under these seats at the end are round holes, in which the kegs of water arc carried The entrance is at the rear and the steps are low, so one can get in and out readily. Tho drlver on the front seat can be cut off bya curtain from those inside. In time officers are enabled to ''save Ip'' money enough to buy a condemned ambulance, the running gear of which needs little repairing.
 Tho seats are then arranged across and recovered, as well as the top of the wagon,
 
 veyance is not only made very comfortable, but there is hardly a trace of the gloomy old hospital wagon of the Government. An of ticer just home from a wedding festivity, and having to buy his little domestic outfit, is not usua ly prepared to purchase and make over a vehicle of any kind, nor can he fit his wife out with a horse and equip ments, with which, later in their history, she varies many weary march.
 bn ho wagons are pulled into line and begin their monotouous march of four miles an hour, sometimes varied by long stop at the crossing of a stream, where bridge IS made or a causeway laid of logs.
 Tho traveller spends the day slipping | from tine leather seat and recovering her | self. The seat is narrow, hard and has no | back except the slender wooden strips of l the frame over which the coverls Is stretched. | It dusty, and there is q tantaiizng dry 1 heat, while the suU beats down remorseleSS- | ly on the black waterproof cover The | luncheon, hastily pre-: pared is not improved by travel; the water In the canieen is warm. | The promises of & few weeks months before of Q girl in tuiie and lace and orange | flowers, with all the glamour uf first love, l all the alluremenls of luxurious surround ings, were not idle worus. With such | chances before her to prove her devotion, i she enters into her life joyous at the very l thought that no one can doubt that she mar | ried but for one reason
 Her journey over the plains is but the repetition of the experiences of the wife of | the pioneer; there wHs 10 royal road over | those sun-bakcd pr.iirics. The wind l storms shrieizad around tho ambulance, rockin 2 it in its vioicuca, or tore the canvas l of the tent in its f;crccness with just the l same fury that it did the lumber wagon of 1 the frontiersnan. The sun Scorched and l the rain soalcl the military pioneer just as it did the brave man who sought a new home There was this to be said for the ! pioneer: When iic finally located he need not move again, unless from some untoward circumstances. With an officer the march l ing was ''from to sum-" and, like woman's work, it twas never dcne." Some may suggest that the military wife had not the evcr-present fear of Indians in her | journeyingS that the wife Of the pioneer had. But she had, though, We have, even now, with peace broo;iing over the land, 6 very small army.
 A few years since there was an immense frontier to protect, aau often our brave little army was divided up so that small knots of men had to Ge marched from one post to another through tie very worst of the Indian country, The garrisons even were too small for safety, and behind an insecure log stoc!>:ilie our men have heard the orgies, the threats, the insults of the foe. There was never ;lny let up to . woHl- ans fears after she lett the railroad and civilization. In one respect the army wife had the advantage of tho pioneer woman. A soldier was allowed each officer as serv- ant, and they cooked, so that the military woman who could t what thev cooked did not have to plt her eyes out with the smoke ' of a campfire, or struggle with wet wood and a hurricane of wind to prepare the daily meal
 In our life there WAS no gradual leading l up to any thing. It was . successor of plunges the whole life through.
 For instance ono day 3 pretty, delicate bride plighted her vows under exotics and in the midst Of aflueacc. in three short days, possibly less, sic was sitting in an am mbulance trave:ing slowly over the West | ern divides It was not the enthusiasm of youth and fervor of early love that made even that weary way seem to have the verdure and bloom Of garden, for years afterward 1 met these girls one after another, developed into matrons and mothers, and perhaps in all that time never knowing what people in the States term comfort, but stiA they had no murnuring word. Army women have faults, but con- plaining of their life is not ;inoug them.
 At the end of these journeys of weeks, after experiencing every thing in the way of what the elements can do. eucounterng g prairie fires, making camps without fresh water. eating salt meat and coarse food, subjected to fright from Indians, and. per- haps, being even in the midst Of q skirmish with the foe, into what sort of a habitation do you think she was introducedl
 Long before the post was reaciea the held-giass revealed a group of low huts. isolated and dreary. The color of the plains dull, rusty hue, it was hard to realize that human beings were herded there. On nearer and nearer apsroac:', there was no mistaking that it was garrison of Uncle Sam's followers, stationed way out in the plains beside muddy stream. The low, dark quarters were built of adobe, the sum- baked blocks of clay that the Mexicans use. The earth floor, small windows and narrow door all combined to add to the gloom. Not a tree aas sp sight that could cast a shade.