Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1899-12-19
Copyright. 1890. BY F. T.nny.on Neely.l

| corners among the stacks of bales and
| boxes, but at the table nearest the
| staging all seemed gay good hulnor
a merry little woman with straw-col-
ored hair and pert, tip-tilted nose and
much vivacity, and complexion, had ap-
| parently taken the lead in the warfare
| of chatf and fun. Evidently she was
no stranger to most of the officers. AL
most as evidently, to very close OBJ
server who stood few PAGES away.
| she was no intimate of the group of
women who with good right regarded
that table as their especial and per-
sonal charge. Her Red Cross badge was
very new; her garb and gloves were
| just as fresh and spotless. She had
not been ladling out milk and cream
or buttering sandwiches, or pinning
souvenirs on dusty blue blouses ever
since early morning. Other faces
there showed through all their smiles
and sweetness the traces of long days
of unaccustomed work and short mig hts
of troubled sleep. Marvellous were Mrs.
Frank Garrison's recuperative powers,
| thought they who saw her brought
home in the Primes stylish carriage,
weak and helpless and shaken after her
adventure of the previous day. Shs
had not been at the Preside week
and yet she pervaded it. She had never
| thought of such a thing as the Red
Cross until she found it the center of
the social armament after her arrival
at San Francisco, and here she was,
the last conner, the foremost (''most for
ward" l think some one described it)
in their circle at one of the most rom
ipent tables, absorbing much of the
attention, most of the glory, and none
OF the fatigue that should have been
equally shared by all,
"Adios!" she gayly cried, as the ''as-
sembly" rang out, loud and clear, and
waving their hands and raising their
caps, the officers fastened to join their
| commands. ''Adios, till we meet in
(, Manila"
"Do you really think of going to the
Philippines, Mrs. Carlson" queried
much older looking, yet younger wom-
an. "Why, we were told the general
said that none of his staff would be
allowed to take their wives.'
yet there are others!" laughed Mrs.
Garrison, waving dainty handkerchief
toward the troops now breaking into
column of twos and slowly climbing the
stage. "Who would want to go with
that blessed old undertaken? Good
by-bon voyage, Geordie," she cried,
blowing q kiss to the lieutenant at the
head of the second troop, a youth who
blushed and looked confused at the at
tention thereby centered upon him and
who would fain have shaken his fist,
rather than waved the one unoccupied
hand in perfunctory reply. when
go I'll choose a ship with a band and
broad decks, not any such cramped old
canal boat as the Portland"
ooh! I thought perhaps your hus-
band" began the lady, obviously, but
with n significant glance at the silent
faces about her.
"Who? Frank Garrison? Heavens!
haven't known what it was to have a
husband-since that poor dear boy
went OH staff duty" promptly answered
the diminutivc center of attraction. Il
merry peal of laughter ringing under
the dingy archway of the long. long
roof. why, the Portland has only one
stateroom in it big enough for a band
box, and of course the general has 10
have that, and there isn't deck where
one couple could turn slow waltz. No,
| indeed! wait for the next tiotilla, when
our fellows 60, bands and ALL Then
we'll see.'
but surely, Mrs. Garrison, we are
told the war department has positively
| forbidden officers wives from going on
the Transports began her in
eyes. II know I'd give anything to join
| Mr.. Dutton."
| "The war department has to take or
ders quite as often as it gives them,
Mrs. button. The thing is to know how
to be of the order giving side. Oh, joy!"
she suddenly cried. Here are the
Primes and Amy Lawrence--then the
regiments must be coming! And there's
Stanley Armstrong;"
Far up the westward street the dis
tant roar of voices mingled with the
swing and rhythm and crash of martial
music. Dock policemen and soldiers on
guard began boring wide lane through
the throng of people on the pier. A huge
black transport ship lay moored along
the opposite side to that on which the
guns and troopers were embarked, and
for hours bales. boxes and barrels had
been swallowed up and stored in her
capacious depths until now, over
against the tables of the Red Cross,
there lay behind rope barrier, taut
stretched and guarded by line of sen-
tries, an open space close under the
side of the greater steamer and be-
tween the two landing stages, placed
fore and aft. By this time the north
tide of the broad pier was Uttered with
the inevitable relics of open air lunch.
ing, and though busy hands had been
at work and the tables had been
cleared, and fresh white cloths were
spread and everything on the tables
began again to look fair and inviting,
the good fairies themselves looked ask,
ance at their bestrewn surroundings,
"Oh, If we could only move everything
| bodily over to the other SIDE" walled
Madam President, as from her perch
on stack of Red Cross boxes she sur.
veyed that coveted stretch of clean, un.
hampered flooring.
And why not?" chirruped Mrs. Car
rison, from similar perch, n tier or two
higher. Here are men enough to move
mountains. All we have to do is to say
the word"