I used to say, "Oh, Frau General, how fascinating it all is!"
"Hush, Martha," she would say; "life in the army is not always so
brilliant as it looks; in fact, we often call it, over here,
'glaenzendes Elend.' "
These bitter words made a great impression upon my mind, and in
after years, on the American frontier, I seemed to hear them over
and over again.
When I bade good-bye to the General and his family, I felt a
tightening about my throat and my heart, and I could not speak.
Life in Germany had become dear to me, and I had not known how
dear until I was leaving it forever.
CHAPTER II
I JOINED THE ARMY
I was put in charge of the captain of the North German Lloyd S.
S. "Donau," and after a most terrific cyclone in mid-ocean, in
which we nearly foundered, I landed in Hoboken, sixteen days from
Bremen.
My brother, Harry Dunham, met me on the pier, saying, as he took
me in his arms, "You do not need to tell me what sort of a trip
you have had; it is enough to look at the ship - that tells the
story."
As the vessel had been about given up for lost, her arrival was
somewhat of an agreeable surprise to all our friends, and to none
more so than my old friend Jack, a second lieutenant of the
United States army, who seemed so glad to have me back in
America, that I concluded the only thing to do was to join the
army myself.
A quiet wedding in the country soon followed my decision, and we
set out early in April of the year 1874 to join his regiment,
which was stationed at Fort Russell, Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory.
I had never been west of New York, and Cheyenne seemed to me, in
contrast with the finished civilization of Europe, which I had so
recently left, the wildest sort of a place.
Arriving in the morning, and alighting from the train, two
gallant officers, in the uniform of the United States infantry,
approached and gave us welcome; and to me, the bride, a special
"welcome to the regiment" was given by each of them with
outstretched hands.
Major Wilhelm said, "The ambulance is right here; you must come
to our house and stay until you get your quarters."
Such was my introduction to the army - and to the army ambulance,
in which I was destined to travel so many miles.
Four lively mules and a soldier driver brought us soon to the
post, and Mrs. Wilhelm welcomed us to her pleasant and
comfortable-looking quarters.
I had never seen an army post in America. I had always lived in
places which needed no garrison, and the army, except in Germany,
was an unknown quantity to me.
