The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-10-04
A SOLDIERS WIFE.

quickly move to the front.
Around the fort stretched the monot-
onous plains, rising and falling-the
earth's waves-in every direction until
in the distance they seemed to meet the
sky. 1t was a dreary, desolate place,
the only sign of vegetation being the
sagebrush, the grease weed and punches
of cactus everywhere. There were acres
of alkali, all burning beneath the sun
during the day and freezing beneath the
moon at night. There was no animal
life upon all the expanse of country
either except the prairie dogs and now
and then lean and hungry coyote.
So dismally calm was the landscape
that even the buzzard hesitated in his
stately flight, and the little gray hawk
sailed on and Oh, doubtless with his
eyes closed to the earth.
AS general thing there was amuse-
ment enough at the fort Men assigned
to the post made up their minds that
they depended upon each other for
amusements, and their wives shared the
same belief, and then were they not SOL
diers and were not the women soldiers
wives? But of course the little petty
jealousies and little petty quarrels orept
into that particular post just the same as
they had crept into every other post and
would continue to creep in as long as
the government supported forts and as
long as men and women lived and
breathed, for that matter. 1t was very
lonely around the post now, for the
men had gone to the front. The war had
been declared That awful specter,
dreaded by every wife of soldier and
longed for by the men, had come. There
was considerable speculation as to its
probable length and much fear that they
would not be called out, they were so
far removed from the railroad. Perhaps
the war department would not even re-
member the fort was in existence.
The women were not anxious for the
war. They knew what it meant. Their
faces were very sad when the orders
came calling out the four troops Of cav
airy that made up the post. There was
wild cheering among the enlisted men
down around the stables and among the
youngsters. for each one looked forward
and saw himself returning at least a
captain, If not a major, and in flights
of fancy even lieutenant colonel. They
did not stop to think that they might
be made only first lieutenants.
1t was all excitement to the women,
too, for few days, for they were so
busy assisting the men that they did
not think of the long, weary days. Be-
sides, they really did not believe that
their husbands would see any actual
warfare. They thought it would all be
over within few weeks and then John
ME would come marching home, and
they would have something else to talk
about beside the commonplace things
Of life. But one woman thought about
it. She was the wife of the second lieu
tenant of Troop D. They had married
the very next day after his graduation
from the Point, and his first station had
been at this lonely fort. He told her to
be brave.
"You are soldiers wife, " he said
to her, as she burst into tears and
buried her face on his shoulder.
eyes, am soldiers wife, but that
does not prevent me from having a
heart, she answered.
mo-" he replied, "and, having a
brave heart, true heart and know
ledge that you are soldier wife, you
must face all sorrows and trials with
out finohing"
The words appealed to her The half
dozen other women in the post thought
so much Of her, mere girl and pitied
her SO that her husband should be order
ed to the front that they asked the
major to assign him as the officer in
charge of the fort during the absence of
the troops, but he begged so hard to go
that he was allowed to do SO. The wom-
en- spoke to his wife about it; told them
what they had done.
Robert wants to go, " she said. ut
is the chance of lifetime with him,
and does not his country oall?"
"But your" answered one of the
women.
She looked her questioner straight in
the eyes.
''I am soldiers wife, she replied
proudly.
The rush was soon over, and the men
were now mounted and ready to go.
The officers babe their wives goodby,
and they, too, sprang into the saddle.
The bugle sounded and the troops took
up the march over to the railroad. The
women stood and looked across the sun
cursed plain until every particle of dust
raised by the horses had settled, until
all the world appeared just as before
and then each went into her own house.
That night they gathered at the majors
house and sat gazing out over the dark
ened plain and spoke of the absent ones.
The long weary waiting had begun
The loneliness was more intense than
ever at the fort. Five troopers and
lieutenant had been left to guard the
property and the women, and they were
the only signs of life down around the
quarters and the stables. The lieutenant
was morose and gloomy that he should
/ have been selected as the one to remain
| behind and was not accounted much
/ company to the women the first few
days, but gradually he became recon-
ciled to his fate and sat with them ev
cry evening and talked of the probable
length of absence of the men and dis
oussed the improbability of action.
They sent once week for the mail.
! The first letters and papers brought
word that the four troops had joined
1 their regiment, and the letters were
filled with gossip about the officers and
their families, for regiment is naught
but one large family. Then came days
/ of watching and waiting, and the next
was the movement of troops to Santiago.
Then the women knew that the war
had begun in earnest. The full realiza-
1 ton of it came home to them. The older
women remembered when it was moth
ing for their husbands to be ordered out
/ to suppress the Indians, while one OF
two remembered the civil war, but
there was nothing of that kind for the
wife of the second lieutenant to remem-
Der. She carried herself bravely, how
ever, and proudly said that she was the
wife of soldier and all soldiers wives
should be brave, remark that greatly
pleased the others.
The women learned more about her
now that her husband was not present
to monopolize all her time. They learned
that she was quite alone in the world,
except for him; that she was an orphan
and that the aunt who had reared her
had died. This increased their sympathy
for her, if that were possible, for she had
their sympathy already. They could see
that her thoughts were all Of her hus.