The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-16
WOMEN IN ARMY LIFE.
Mrs. Custer Talks of Social Coalitions
Which Govern Them There.
Boston Advertiser.

Boston Advertiser.
Mrs. Elizabeth Custer, whose books deal
ing with military life at the frontier posts
have fascinated many thousands of persons
wholly with that life, possesses
a charm of manner when talking which
makes what she says rank even above her
literary style in interest. In speaking to the
writer last week about the PECULIAR. condi-
lions which govern the social life of Wom-
en- in the army she said, laughingly:
1T is really hard to find any points Of
likeness between social intercourse at a mill
tary post and that of civil life. You may
judge how great the difference is when l
say that upon my first appearance socially
in the States after my years of soldering,
l scarcely knew how to act or how to ac-
custom myself to the greater Formally all
around me. For that is the keynote of the
matter. Army life is informal to the last
degree. Why, the custom of using cards
when calling is only of very recent date
among army officers wives. When ] lived
in garrison we should never have dreamed
of such a thing. Our method of announcing
ourselves was to walk in at the door. as ii
the house were our own, and call until the
friend whom we wished to see responded.
On the whole, this is still the most common
practice, too.
1T is only at a few of the larger posts,
near the cities, where there is anything like
the formality Of civil life. The people in a
garrison are like one great family. Nothing
that deeply concerns any member is a mat
ter of indifference to the others, and the
spirit of good-fellowship is universal. That
great test Of intimacy among w~omen-the
where. Any article of especial service or
desirability which belongs to one household
is practically at the service of the whole
post. My sewing machine and my piano
went on many a visit to other homes. and
in return / knew l could have anything my
~neighbors possessed. from their best cloaks
to their saucepans, if l wanted them.
In times of sickness the friendly help
fulness of the women for each other is
shown strongly. IN the frontier posts
raine nurses, or any nurse at all, for
that matter. are impossible to get. The
responsibility falls upon the various officers
wives, and they answer to It nobly, though
feeling they are doing nothing more than
their duty as women and friends. Each has
some suggestion as to the cooking OF dainty
food for the invalid or the relieving of her
suffering in other ways, and there is always
someone to look after the duties of the
house until it's mistress is able to be around
again. Many q time have known a num-
Der of women TO detail themselves, in regu-
lar military fashion, to duty in the house of
sickness at certain hours, relieving one an
other through the day and night with abso-
lutte precision, so that the sick person could
never be left without an attendant.
with all this close intimacy there is sur
prising little friction or Ill feeling. There
are, of course, at every post a few people
who are disagreeable or hard to get along
with. But they cause no more trouble in
general than they do in their own house
holds. They belong, we feel, to our army
family, and their shortcomings must be
overlooked, just as We should overlook the
faults of a husband or brother or sister.
Official je~alousies of various kinds there
may Dt, Jul CIVIL OtiC III liz ~ my u SOAi
nected with it is careful to keep. these en-
tirely apart from the social life of the
post. Perhaps one leutenantS Wife feels
aggrieved because another lieutenant has
been promoted to a c~aptaincy instead OF her
own husband. But such causes are not al
lowed to interfere with the garrison init
macy of the families. When a group of
women are talking together and one so far
forgets herself as to refer to the forbid
den topics some one will say, good ma
turedly:
oh, no official matters! Let US leave
those out and there is invariably a prompt
recognition of the suggestion.
Anyon familiar with army life knows
how rare are the cases where officers fall
to exhibit a fine sense of honor. From the
nature Of their calling they are obliged to
put absolute trust in one another on many
feeling that this trust would be faithfully
kept there could be no comfort or peace in
q garrison. Cases like this, for instance.
happen constantly: An officer IS ordered
away from the post on some special detail,
perhaps on an expedition which may keep
him away from home for months. At al
NEST g moments notice he must leave his
wife. and perhaps his children, to get along
as we'll as they can with no head to the
household. 1t is hard for a woman under
such circumstances, for, in the primitive
and simple conditions of garrison life she is
obliged to call upon some OF the oftlcerS at
the post for countless little acts OF as
sistance in managing her domestic affairs.
Perhaps there is trouble with maid servant,
for the army housekeeper is no freer than
her civilian sister from that anxiety, and a
mans authority is needed to settle the
question. Or the striker as any private IS
called who is detailed from the ranks to
do work for the officers families. has been
discovered drunk in the woodshed and to-
tally unfit to perform his daily tasks. This,
by the way, is quite a common grievance,
for there is always a certain class of men
in a garrison who are not lit for much be-
sides strike duty, and who seize upon
| every opportunity to make themselves in
capable of even that.