Major Pierce was opposed
to bringing his family on this long march, to be exposed to all kinds
of
Weather, but Mrs. Pierce had no idea of being left behind with two
days of car and eight days of the worst kind of stage travel between
her husband and herself; so, like a sensible woman, she took matters
in her own hands, and when we reached Chicago, where she had been
visiting, there at the station was the smiling Mrs. Pierce with
babies, governess, nurses, and trunks, all splendidly prepared to come
with us - and come they all did. After the major had scolded a little
and eased his conscience, he smiled as much as the other members of
the family.
The children with us seem to be standing the exposure wonderfully
well. One or two were pale at first, but have become rosy and strong,
although there is much that must be very trying to them and the
mothers also. The tents are "struck" at six sharp in the morning, and
that means that we have to be up at four and breakfast at five. That
the bedding must be rolled, every little thing tucked away in trunks
or bags, the mess chest packed, and the cooking stove and cooking
utensils not only made ready to go safely in the wagon, but they must
be carried out of the tents before six o'clock. At that time the
soldiers come, and, when the bugle sounds, down go the tents, and if
anything happens to be left inside, it has to be fished out from
underneath the canvas or left there until the tent is folded. The days
are so short now that all this has to be done in the darkness, by
candle or lantern light, and how mothers can get their small people up
and ready for the day by six o'clock, I cannot understand, for it is
just all I can manage to get myself and the tent ready by that time.
We are on the banks of a small stream, and the tents are evidently
pitched directly upon the roosting ground of wild geese, for during
the snowstorm thousands of them came here long after dark, making the
most dreadful uproar one ever heard, with the whirring of their big
wings and constant "honk! honk!" of hundreds of voices. They circled
around so low and the calls were so loud that it seemed sometimes as
if they were inside the tents. They must have come home for shelter
and become confused and blinded by the lights in the tents, and the
loss of their ground. We must be going through a splendid country for
game.
I was very ill for several days on the way up, the result of
malaria - perhaps too many scuppernong grapes at Pass Christian, and
jolting of the heavy army wagon that makes a small stone seem the size
of a boulder. One morning I was unable to walk or even stand up, and
Faye and Major Bryant carried me to the wagon on a buffalo robe.
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