The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-03-09

in the service and had crank in lieu of
encumbrances, were all herded together
along the eastern end, situation that
had disadvantages as connected with du-
ties which required the frequent pres
ence OF the occupants at the court mar
tial rooms or at headquarters, and
that was correspondingly far distant
from the barracks of the soldiers. 1t
had its recommendations in being con-
venient to the card room and billiard
tables at "the store" and in embracing
within its limits one house which pos
sessed mysterious interest in the eyes of
every woman and most of the men in
the garrison; it was said to be haunted.
A sorely perplexed man was the post
quartermaster when the rumor came out
from the railway station that Mr.. Hayne
had arrived and was coming to report
for duty. AS first lieutenant he would
have choice of quarters over every Sec
ond lieutenant in the garrison. There
were ten of these young gentlemen, and
four of the ten were married. Every
set of quarters had its occupants, and
Hayne could move in nowhere, unless as
occupant of room or two in the house
of some comrade, without first compel
ling others to move out. This proceed
ing would lead to vast discomfort, oc-
curing as it would in the dead of winter,
and the youngsters were naturally per-
turbed in spirit-their wives especially
so. What made the prospects infinitely
worse was the fact that the cavalry
bachelors were already living three in q
house; the only spare rooms were in the
quarters of the second lieutenants of the
infantry, and they were not on speaking
terms with Mr.. Hayne. Everything,
therefore, pointed to the probability of
his "displacing" junior, who would in
turn displace somebody else, and SO they
would go tumbling like row of bricks
until the lowest and last was reached.
All this would involve no end of worry
for the quartermaster, who even under
the most favorable circumstances is sure
to be the least appreciated and most
abused officer under the commandment
himself, and that worthy was simply
agasp with relief and joy when he heard
Mr.. Haynes astonishing announcement
that he would take the quarters out on
''Prairie avenue"
1t was the talk of the garrison all that
day. The ladies, especially, had good
deal to say, because many of the men
seemed averse to expressing their views.
"Quite the proper thing for Mr.. Hayne
to do" was the apparent opinion of the
majority of the young wives and moth
ers. As particularly kind and con-
siderate thing it was not remarked by
one of them, though that view of the
case went not entirely unrepresented.
In choosing to live there Mr.. Hayne
separated himself from companionship.
That, said some of the commentators
men as well as women-he simply ac-
cepted as the virtue of necessity, and so
there was nothing to commend in his
action. But Mr.. Hayne was said to pos
sess an eye for the picturesque and beau
tiful. If SO, he deliberately condemned
himself to the daily contemplation of a
treeless barren, streaked in occasional
shadows with dingy patches of snow,
ornamented only in spots by abandoned
old hats, boots, or tin cans blown be-
yond the jurisdiction of the garrison
police parties. A line of telegraph poles
was all that interviewed between his fence
and the low lying hills of the eastern
horizon.
Southeastward lay the distant roofs
and the low, squat buildings of the from
tier town; southwark the shallow valley
of the winding creek in which lay the
long line of stables for the cavalry and
the great stacks of hay; while the row
nue." as it was termed-was far worse
at his end of it than at the other. 1t COW
cred the whole eastern front. The bic,
brown hospital building stood at the
northern end. Then came the quarters
of the surgeon and his assistants, then
the snug home of the post trader, then
the ''store" and its scattering appen-
dages, then the entrance gateway, then
a broad vacant space, through which the
wind swept like hurricane, then the
little shanty of the traders fur house
and one or two hovel like structures
used by the tailors and cobbler of the
adjacent infantry companies. Then
came the cottage itself; south of it stood
the quartermasters storeroom, back of
which lay an extension filed with ord
nance stores, then other and similar
sheds devoted to commissary supplies,
the post butcher shop, the saddler's
shop, then big coal sheds, and then the
brow Of the bluff, down which at a
steep grade plunged the road to the
stables. 1t was as unprepossessing a
place for home as ever was chosen by
man of education or position; and Mr..
Hayne was possessed of both.
In garrison, despite the flat parade,
there was grand expanse of country to
be seen stretching away towards the
snow covered Rockies. There was life
and the sense of neighborliness to ones
kind. Out on Prairie avenue all was
wintry desolation, except when twice
each day the cavalry officers went plod-
ding by on their way to and from the
stables, muff1ed up in their fur caps and
coats, and hardly distinguishable from so
many bears, much less from one another.
And yet Mr.. Hayne smiled not unhap-
PLY as he glanced from his eastern win
dow at this group of burly warriors the
afternoon succeeding his dinner at the
colonefs. He had been busy all day long
unpacking books, book shelves, some
few pictures which he loved, and his
simple, soldierly outfit of household
goods, and getting them into shape. His