I was in the bondage of tropical customs, and I
had lapsed back into a state of what my aunt called
semi-barbarism.
"Let me enjoy this heavenly cool climate, and do not worry me," I
begged. I shuddered when I heard people complain of the cold
winds of the San Francisco summer. How do they dare tempt Fate,
thought I, and I wished them all in Ehrenberg or MacDowell for
one summer. "I think they might then know something about
climate, and would have something to complain about!"
How I revelled in the flowers, and all the luxuries of that
delightful city!
The headquarters of the Eighth was located at Benicia, and
General Kautz, our Colonel, invited me to pay a visit to his
wife. A pleasant boat-trip up the Sacramento River brought us to
Benicia. Mrs. Kautz, a handsome and accomplished Austrian,
presided over her lovely army home in a manner to captivate my
fancy, and the luxury of their surroundings almost made me
speechless.
"The other side of army life," thought I.
A visit to Angel Island, one of the harbor defences, strengthened
this impression. Four years of life in the southern posts of
Arizona had almost made me believe that army life was indeed but
"glittering misery," as the Germans had called it.
