Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-08

are coolies of such, While she has only
one husband, and now he has to go at
once''-and in military parlance that
means Immediately. And, of course. she
IL not ready to accompany him! There
are infinite domestic details of which that
column takes no thought, and which are
never allowed to influence the just but
Unconditional "csrd indices'' by which 1t
is determined when one regiment or Off
Ger shall be transferred and where.
There seems good reason, indeed within
the spartanlike atmosphere of the War
Department why that major who has for
two years been chained to the discom-
forts of foreign service" should be re-
turned to the cheerineSs Of his family cir
Gle. which could not. because of schools
and climate, accompany him to the Phil
ippines. but the woman left behind to
settle her lares and penates into travelling
shape has a oneness of mind peculiar to
the sex. To her that column lengthens
until all the rest of the paper is merely
a margin of news for it.
And SO, too, with the wife of the naval
officer who. having completed his two
years on land. is told to be good now and
serve faithfully for two at sea. She
thinks how other happy wives have their
husbands at home all the time and she
hates the very sight of the mean old
heading" which has brought her such in
consOlable grief But the department is
used to tears and caHOused to entreaties
but rarely inundated by thanks.
*
Regardless Of rank or wealth, the order
stands: For men in the army, 1.-TWO years
on foreign soil and four at frome": for
men Of the navy. 1.-TWO on sea and two on
neutrality-suspicious. permitting and al
ways, of course, meaning in times Of
peace. Conditions change utterly when a
war cloud hovers in the horizon Of those
who are married In the service. And be-
cause of the queer propensity for contin-
ned intermarrying. not only among army
and navy folk. but also between them, the
heartaches are manifold.
When a regiment has sweltered SO long
in the tropics that the men begin to think
they have been overlooked at home and
even the commanding officers feel sure it
must be about time for a transfer some
body of importance I'm the War College
are mixed the exact dates that regiment
departed and for what point, as we'll as
the locations and length of stay Of all
the many other regiments of the army.
1.-THE Hath Infantry is due for home. -
he announces Taconicafly and looks up the
regiment whose duty it is to relieve the
incoming one.
His nearer 'makes note Of It" and
with remarkable swiftness the order goes
forth and there is rejoicing in that far-off
body of homesick Americans. But long
before the men know they are at last to
be taken out OF "Purgatory''-which is the
that unfeeling. Sphinxlike column in the
paper has announced the glad tidings to
the relatives and friends Of every one OF
them.
True, it is patrician I'm its contents
Only officers are named and their move
ments chronicled. But each West Pointer
or Annapolis man represents so many en-
listed men. Where he goes. officially
there they must go. and SO. reading liter
ally between the lines. their families are
kept as well informed as those I'm the
menage of the most brilliant general OF
admiral.
X Il
And the near-tragedies which assail
them because of these trite orders fall
lust az heavily upon the wives and sweet
hearts Of the elect Only last week there
IVES apprehension and distress in the
home Of. say. Capt. Goidbraid Of the
army, because a member of his family.
who is the bride of a naval ofiicer-faced
the dread calamity OF long ocean voy-
age from San Francisco to China. with
the expectation of meeting her husband
here and the probability Of landing only
to be greeted by the news that he is or
aboard the warship mentioned as the pos
sible one meant to bring distinguished
public character back to the states.
If an employer should subject clerks
wife to such a predicament there would
speedily be a vacancy in that shop. But
what is one woman's honeymoon to the
vast organisation of nation? Still, such
women, born and reared in the service
have learned to endure. and to them
those heart-breakfng orders rail- to in
fict the perfectly unreasoning agony
that Trey have for women whose men are
IN,