Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-08-29
THE LOST TRAIL.

Fort Milton was 40 weary miles
away from the railroad, and the mail
came weekly from Florence by buck
board The arrival Of the blackboard
was the event Of the week. Every one
greeted its coming, even the dogs. The
Mexicans and Indians who could not
write and received no mail regularly
asked for it, Every one knew it. Even
at nighttime you could tell it by its
shuffiing, pattering rattle, as if all its
Joints were as loose as those Of the ivory
contortionists made by the japanese for
children to play with. In the daytime,
by its queer little team of dun mules,
condemned from the pack train because
their backs had been defaced by i'll fit.
ting aperejos and bad packing, patient,
pathetic creatures, used to abuse, re,
signed, not resenting.
Their driver, Chris+opherson. was
long faced Latter Saint who had
served term i'll Yuma for his devotion
to Hymen. Ia former years he had been
possessed of seven wives, all of whom
he had now completely deserted, being
old The territorial laws were getting
severe, and he had our sympathy, for
his face showed very plainly that he had
suffered.
Those who frequent the habitat of
man, where life is multiform in its
pleasures and sensations and so filled
with change and whim that no trivial
event has relative or shadow casting
Importance, will fail to understand the
part played at Fort Milton by Chris
topherson's coming The youngster
''from the Point wanted home letters
and large, square missives addressed in
feminine hand beginning always ''Lieu-
tenant -" title SO new that it
still thrilled its possessor-letters which
next year would come thinner, less fire.
quent, and less noticed from numb
apathy born of absence and the dull
routine of drill and duty done in the
superheated days of a torrid climate;
kind anasthetics which render bearable
the narrow limits of garrison life and in
time temper even the rebellious spirit to
resignation and forgetfulness Of home
in the pleasant east, making duty for
duty sake meremonGtonous habit, de-
void of virtue, but permanent and Ell,
tirely satisfactory to post commanders,
who find enthusiasms hasty as transient,
aggressive and worth watching.
The older subalterns wanted st. Louis
papers which gave the army budget
telling Of exchanges of regiments and
troops, Of deaths, Transfers and resigna-
tions, of courts and boards, changes on
which depend promotion, pay, details
and pleasant station. 1t was there one
first found details an9 leaves of absence
granted, for the enterprising press is
quicker than the ponderous bureaus of
war; The ladies wanted shopping
parcels from the big eastern cities,
for the heavy wares common to the
country made the feminine heart very
unhappy, and, even in climates too
warm to wear them, women must have
clothes. Christopherson brought the
magazines and illustrated papers, with
out which life would be SO empty, once
we have acquired their habit. He was
the bearer of their joys and sorrows
their hopes and prizes, their disappoint-
ments and their bitter grief. He often
est disturbed their quiet neutrality, was
their chief reaction, was the one slender
thread that connected these prisoners OF
the desert with the world in which they
had been reared, had for awhile resign
ed and hoped again to form a part.
This was Friday afternoon, and the
mail was overdue. The crowd had col
lected, awaiting its arrival. One could
hear the clatter of poker chips i'll the
officers club Outside the general store
room were gangs of tethered bronchos.
and near them, lying i'll their shadows
for protection from the suns rays, a
medley of NANCY ours and pelon dogs,
painting with the heat, while stretched
on the ground in the shade of the adobe
store was amotlev crowd of Mexicans
rE-