Mr. Thomas said he could not understand why we wore such bags of
dresses. I told him spitefully that if the women of Fort Whipple
would come down to MacDowell to spend the summer, they would
soon be able to explain it to him. I began to feel embarrassed at
the fit of my house-gowns. After a few days spent with us,
however, the mercury ranging from l04 to l20 degrees in the
shade, he ceased to comment upon our dresses or our customs.
I had a glass jar of butter sent over from the Commissary, and
asked Colonel Biddle if he thought it right that such butter as
that should be bought by the purchasing officer in San Francisco.
It had melted, and separated into layers of dead white, deep
orange and pinkish-purple colors. Thus I, too, as well as General
Miles, had my turn at trying to reform the Commissary Department
of Uncle Sam's army.
Hammocks were swung under the ramadas, and after luncheon
everybody tried a siesta. Then, near sundown, an ambulance came
and took us over to the Verde River, about a mile away, where we
bathed in water almost as thick as that of the Great Colorado. We
taught Mrs. Kendall to swim, but Mr. Kendall, being an inland
man, did not take to the water.
