With Such An Existence As This, Good Health And Diversion, The
Time Passed Rapidly By.
It was against the law now for soldiers to marry; the old days of
"laundresses" had passed away.
But the trombone player of the
Tenth Infantry band (a young Boston boy) had married a wife, and
now a baby had come to them. They could get no quarters, so we
took the family in, and, as the wife was an excellent cook, we
were able to give many small dinners. The walls of the house
being three feet thick, we were never troubled by the trombone
practice or the infant's cries. And many a delightful evening we
had around the board, with Father de Fourri, Rev. Mr. Meany (the
Anglican clergyman), the officers and ladies of the Tenth,
Governor and Mrs. Prince, and the brilliant lawyer folk of Santa
Fe.
Such an ideal life cannot last long; this existence of ours does
not seem to be contrived on those lines. At the end of a year,
orders came for Texas, and perhaps it was well that orders came,
or we might be in Santa Fe to-day, wrapt in a dream of past ages;
for the city of the Holy Faith had bound us with invisible
chains.
With our departure from Santa Fe, all picturesqueness came to an
end in our army life. Ever after that, we had really good houses
to live in, which had all modern arrangements; we had beautiful,
well-kept lawns and gardens, the same sort of domestic service
that civilians have, and lived almost the same life.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 240 of 274
Words from 63799 to 64065
of 72945
