Often the company commanders
receive the most pitiful letters from mothers of enlisted men,
beseeching them to send their boys back to them, that they are being
treated like dogs, dying of starvation, and so on. As though these
company commanders did not know all about those boys and the life they
had to live.
It is such a pity that these mothers cannot be made to realize that
army discipline, regular hours, and plain army food is just what those
"boys" need to make men of them. Judging by several letters I have
read, sent to officers by mothers of soldiers, I am inclined to
believe that weak mothers in many cases are responsible for the
desertion of their weak sons. They sap all manhood from them by
"coddling" as they grow up, and send them out in the world wholly
unequal to a vigorous life - a life without pie and cake at every meal.
Well! I had no intention of moralizing this way, but I have written
only the plain truth.
FORT SHAW, MONTANA TERRITORY
September, 1881.
THERE has been quite a little flutter of excitement in the garrison
during the past week brought about by a short visit from the Marquis
of Lome and his suite. As governor general of Canada, he had been
inspecting his own military posts, and then came on down across the
line to Shaw, en rozite to Dillon, where he will take the cars for the
East. Colonel Knight is in command, so it fell upon him to see that
Lord Lome was properly provided for, which he did by giving up
absolutely for his use his own elegantly furnished quarters. Lord Lome
took possession at once and quietly dined there that evening with one
or two of his staff, and Colonel Knight as his guest.
The members of the suite were entertained by different officers of the
garrison, and Captain Percival of the Second Life Guards was our
guest. They were escorted across the line to this post by a company of
Canadian mounted police, and a brave appearance those redcoats made as
they rode on the parade ground and formed two lines through which the
governor general and his staff rode, with the booming of cannon.
Colonel Knight went out to meet them, escorted by our mounted infantry
in command of Lieutenant Todd.
The horses of the mounted police were very small, and inferior in
every way to the animals one would expect the Canadian government to
provide, and it did look very funny to see the gorgeously dressed
police with their jaunty, side-tilted caps riding such wretched little
beasts!
Our officers were on the parade to receive the governor general, and
the regimental band was there also, playing all sorts of things.
Presently, without stop, and as though it was the continuation of a
melody, the first notes of "God Save the Queen" were heard. Instantly
the head of every Englishman and Canadian was uncovered - quietly, and
without ostentation or slightest break in hand-shaking and talking. It
was like a military movement by bugle call! Some of us who were
looking on through filmy curtains thought it a beautiful manifestation
of loving loyalty. They were at a military post of another nation, in
the midst of being introduced to its officers, yet not one failed to
remember and to remind, that he was an Englishman ever!
Mrs. Gordon saved me the worry of preparing an elaborate dinner at
this far-away place, by inviting us and our guest to dine with her and
her guests. I am inclined to think that this may have been a shrewd
move on the part of the dear friend, so she could have Hang to assist
her own cook at her dinner. It was a fine arrangement, at all events,
and pleased me most of all. I made the salad and arranged the table
for her. Judging from what I saw and heard, Hang was having a glorious
time. He had evidently frightened the old colored cook into complete
idiocy, and was ordering her about in a way that only a Chinaman
knows.
The dinner was long, but delicious and enjoyable in every way. Lord
Bagot, the Rev. Dr. MacGregor, Captain Chater, and others of the
governor general's staff were there - sixteen of us in all. Captain
Percival sat at my right, of course, and the amount he ate was simply
appalling! And the appetites of Lord Bagot and the others were equally
fine. Course after course disappeared from their plates - not a scrap
left on them - until one wondered how it was managed. Soon after dinner
everyone went to Colonel Knight's quarters, where Lord Lome was
holding a little reception. He is a charming man, very simple in his
manner, and one could hardly believe that he is the son-in-law of a
great queen and heir to a splendid dukedom.
He had announced that he would start at ten o'clock the next morning,
so I ordered breakfast at nine. A mounted escort from the post was to
go with him to Dillon in command of Faye. It has always seemed so
absurd and really unkind for Americans to put aside our own ways and
customs when entertaining foreigners, and bore them with wretched
representations of things of their own country, thereby preventing
them from seeing life as it is here. So I decided to give our English
captain an out and out American breakfast - not long, or elaborate, but
dainty and nicely served. And I invited Miss Mills to meet him, to
give it a little life.
Well, nine o'clock came, so did Miss Mills, so did half after nine
come, and then, finally ten o'clock, but Captain Percival did not
come!
