During the years we
owned Rollo he was struck with the whip only once - the time I wanted
him to run down a wolf up the river.
The Great Northern Railroad runs very near Fort Shaw now - about twenty
miles, I think - and, that will make it convenient for the moving of
the regiment, and all of us, in fact. We will go to St. Paul on the
special train with the regiment, for Faye will not be relieved as
adjutant until he reaches Fort Snelling, where we will remain for a
day or two. It will be a sad trip for me, for I love the West and life
at a Western post, and the vanities of city life do not seem
attractive to me - and I shall miss my army friends, too!
Perhaps it is a small matter to mention, but since I have been with
the Army I have ridden twenty-two horses that had never been ridden by
a woman before! As I still recollect the gait and disposition of each
horse, it seems of some consequence to me, for unbroken as some were,
I was never unseated - not once!
THE PAXTON HOTEL, OMAHA, NEBRASKA,
August, 1888.
ALMOST five weeks have passed since we left dear Fort Shaw! During
that time we have become more or less accustomed to the restrictions
of a small city, but I fancy that I am not the only one of the party
from Montana who sometimes sighs for the Rocky Mountains and the old
garrison life. Here we are not of the Army - neither are we citizens.
General and Mrs. Bourke are still dazzled by the brilliancy of the new
silver star on the general's shoulder straps, and can still smile.
Faye says very little, but I know that he often frets over his present
monotonous duties and yearns for the regiment, his duties as adjutant
of the regiment, the parades, drills, and outdoor life generally, that
make life so pleasant at a frontier post.
Department Headquarters is in a government building down by the river,
and the offices are most cheerless. All the officers wear civilian
clothes, and there is not one scrap of uniform to be seen any
place - nothing whatever to tell one "who is who," from the department
commander down to Delaney, the old Irish messenger! Each one sits at
his desk and busies himself over the many neatly tied packages of
official papers upon it, and tries to make the world believe that he
is happy - but there are confidential talks, when it is admitted that
life is dreary - the regiment the only place for an energetic officer,
and so on. Yet not one of those officers could be induced to give up
his detail, for it is always such a compliment to be selected from the
many for duty at headquarters.
