Findlay Wanted To
Tear Down The Canvas Partition In The Dining Room When We Left The
House, And I Was Sorry Later On That I Had Not Consented To His Doing
So.
One morning at ten o'clock I received a note from Faye, written at the
guard house, saying that his
Set of quarters had been selected by a
cavalry officer who had just arrived at the post, and that every
article of ours must be out of the house that day by one o'clock! Also
that, as he was officer of the guard, it would be impossible for him
to assist me in the least, except to send some enlisted men to move
the things. At first I was dazed and wholly incapable of comprehending
the situation - it seemed so preposterous to expect anyone to move
everything out of a house in three hours. But as soon as I recovered
my senses I saw at once that not one second of the precious time must
be wasted, and that the superintendence of the whole thing had fallen
upon me.
So I gathered my forces, and the four men started to work in a way
that showed they would do everything in their power to help me. All
that was possible for us to do, however, was almost to throw things
out in a side yard, for remember, please, we had only three short
hours in which to move everything - and this without, warning or
preparation of any kind. All things, big and small, were out by one
o'clock, and just in time, too, to avoid a collision with the colored
soldiers of the incoming cavalry officer, who commenced taking
furniture and boxes in the house at precisely that hour.
Of course there was no hotel or even restaurant for me to go to, and I
was too proud and too indignant to beg shelter in the house of a
friend - in fact, I felt as if I had no friend. So I sat down on a
chair in the yard with the little dog by me, thinking, I remember,
that the chair was our own property and no one had a right to object
to my being there. And I also remember that the whole miserable affair
brought to mind most vividly scenes of eviction that had been
illustrated in the papers from time to time, when poor women had been
evicted for nonpayment of rent!
Just as I had reached the very lowest depths of misery and woe, Mrs.
Vincent appeared, and Faye almost immediately after. We three went to
Mrs. Vincent's house for luncheon, and in fact I remained there until
we came to this house. She had just heard of what had happened and
hastened down to me. Captain Vincent said it was entirely the fault of
the commanding officer for permitting such a disgraceful order to
leave his office; that Captain Park's family could have remained one
night longer in tents here, as they had been in camp every night on
the road from Fort Sill.
There came a ludicrous turn to all this unpleasantness, for, by the
ranking out of one junior second lieutenant, six or more captains and
first lieutenants had to move. It was great fun the next day to see
the moving up and down the officers' line of all sorts of household
goods, for it showed that a poor second lieutenant was of some
importance after all!
But I am getting on too fast. Faye, of course, was entitled to two
rooms, some place in the post, but it seems that the only quarters he
could take were those occupied by Lieutenant Cole, so Faye decided at
once to go into tents himself, in preference to compelling Lieutenant
Cole to do so. Now it so happened that the inspector general of the
department was in the garrison, and as soon as he learned the
condition of affairs, he ordered the post quartermaster to double two
sets of quarters - that is, make four sets out of two - and designated
the quartermaster's own house for one of the two. But Major Knox
divided off two rooms that no one could possibly occupy, and in
consequence has still all of his large house. But the other large set
that was doubled was occupied by a senior captain, who, when his
quarters were reduced in size, claimed a new choice, and so,
turning another captain out, the ranking out went on down to a second
lieutenant. But no one took our old house from Captain Park, much to
my disappointment, and he still has it.
The house that we are in now is built of cedar logs, and was the
commanding officer's house at one time. It has a long hall running
through the center, and on the left side Major Hunt and his family
have the four rooms, and we have the two on the right. Our kitchen is
across the yard, and was a chicken house not so very long ago. It has
no floor, of course, so we had loads of dirt dug out and all filled in
again with clean white sand, and now, after the log walls have been
scraped and whitened, and a number of new shelves put up, it is really
quite nice. Our sleeping room has no canvas on the walls inside, and
much of the chinking has fallen out, leaving big holes, and I never
have a light in that room after dark, fearing that Indians might shoot
me through those holes. They are skulking about the post all the time.
We have another cook now - a soldier of course - and one that is rather
inexperienced. General Phillips ordered Findlay back to the company,
saying he was much needed there, but he was company cook just one day
when he was transferred to the general's own kitchen. Comment is
unnecessary! But it is all for the best, I am sure, for Farrar is very
fond of Hal, and sees how intelligent he is, just as I do.
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