The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-03
NY.Y.X.X.Y.Y
Frontier Women.

Frontier Women.
 stannard was two company post. With the new system of concentration many of the old posts have been abandoned and Stannard Is no more. It was on a . river of much sand and little water. in 5 a sterile. forbidding country. four hun dred~ miles from railroad. dreary. weary place.
 The tall flagstaff, on which from sun rise to sunset flashed out the only bit of color in the yellow gray of the adobe buildings, the neutral tints of the sickly turf or carefully nursed trees and the desert all about. was in the mathematical center of the parade ground, and the pa- rade ground was in the center of the post. At one side were the officers houses. the quarters of the men, hospital. of- fees and stables ranged along the other Z sides. On all these the blistering sun came down and the stand storms swept q without partiality.
 There was no hunting within two days ride, nothing to interest one nothing to do but the routine garrison work. Diver sions and amusements were few: one could read or write, ride over the desert, play tedious games of cards. or listen to the surgeons account of the various op- erations which came to mind when he could get a listener. You could hardly call this diversion. for after you had known him a month you knew just what unexpected course the ball took, the tenn perature and pulse of the patient be- fore, at any stage of, and after the op- eration. and-after eleven in the morning --you could drink.
 Quarrels over matters of precedence, hardly to be understood by the outsider, their quarters and the merits of their respective husbands interested the ladies of the post; while the mental exercise involved in trying to keep out of them gave the men like diversion as attends hopeless effort to solve the fifteen pug zle.' You know it can't be done, but there is the boars and you try. The range of amusements at Stannard was perhaps best outlined by "Old Jack Bunker" captain in the Forty-frst, when his viz or of expression so scandalized army cir cles. All were on their good behavior when Bunker put his foot in it. Salt Lake was visited by some dignitaries of the church, and the ladies of Fort Doug lass entertained the travellers. Jack was in conversation with a bishops wife.
 You are at Fort Stannard, you tell me. Where is it?"
 After giving its location and tersely putting the barren loneliness of the place before her. she asked:
 What amusements or diversions can you have there?"
 AnyJnluS you COulu nave III nell, ma dam," he answered.
 Stannard was to be avoided, and officers with influential friends never went there.
 Lieutenant Colonel Hay had no infiuen- tial friends. His record in the Civil War gave him a commission in the regular service. He was ordered to the plains. where he had been for twenty-five years. He had served from Mexico to Alaska; one detail of arduous service succeeded 1nar1 sk seemed to fall to him. Other men took credit for his soldierly work; the only recognition for his efficient and jealous performance of duty came to him fin pro- motions. delayed to the last moment, as if grudgingly given. Colonel Hay felt all this keenly, and while it in no whit di- unfinished his loyalty to the service, for that was religion to him, it made him grum, reserved man. stern and exact ing, something of a martinet. But no officer ever served under him who did not know him for what he was. and the Tmen had the regard for and pride in him Swhich a brave officer, tenacious of their rights and consistent in his treatment of them, always inspires.
 Colonel Hay was ordered to Stannard. The s,command of a two company post and That Stannard was as obnoxious to his pride as he felt it inadequate to his ranlsS Everybody said it was a shame to treat him so, and it was more than hinted that the department commander had a grudge against him. There he found two companies of the Thirty-third Infantry, with their officers and their families, Surgeon Beebe, the wives of sWo sergeants and Dotty.
 Dotty was the child of Captain and Mrs. Dorr, six years old, chubby and tanned, democratic in her tastes, loyal in her friendships. without pride of family or respect for rank. Fort Assiniboin claimed her birthplace, her mother, sta tfoned at Halleck, being there on visit to her sister, Major Smiths wife, when Dotty was born. Aesiniboin being a cav airy post and Halleck an infantry one. the 33rd men at Stannard had put 1t up that Halleck was entitled to an hon. or of which Assiniboin had only seem tngly deprived it. However that may be, the fact is undeniahle that at Stannard. as Corporal Gray, who had once follow cd the sea, sagely observed. she first got her bearings" Dotty had cruised about Stannard for three years from sunrise to dark. conveying a heterogen- eous fleet of dogs and cats, together with R diminutive burro. She had the lveliest Interest in everything and every body, was everywhere and into everything. Mrs. Daly. the ser geant's wife. had been her nurse. ana ,S.,.s.H "St"s ,o ave up to the respon- abilities of the position, but, as she remarked to Mrs. Dorr. who vainly tried to restrain the chiId's activities. "'Twould wear the legs off one to foly her. Let her run. maam; the airs good for her. and the boys always has an eye out for her" Every one felt the sunshine of this active, happy little creature. and she was welcome every where, but the men were her fayorites and they idoliked her. F Company gave her Jenny, the little burro, and the sad dle she rode on. or tumbled from, when Jenny thought the limit of children on her back had been exceeded H Company sent to San Francisco for the ueliest and