The gay young officers of Angel Island days hold dignified
commands in the Philippines, Cuba, and Alaska.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * *
My early experiences were unusually rough. None of us seek such
experiences, but possibly they bring with them a sort of
recompense, in that simple comforts afterwards seem, by contrast,
to be the greatest luxuries.
I am glad to have known the army: the soldiers, the line, and the
Staff; it is good to think of honor and chivalry, obedience to
duty and the pride of arms; to have lived amongst men whose
motives were unselfish and whose aims were high; amongst men who
served an ideal; who stood ready, at the call of their country,
to give their lives for a Government which is, to them, the best
in the world.
Sometimes I hear the still voices of the Desert: they seem to be
calling me through the echoes of the Past. I hear, in fancy, the
wheels of the ambulance crunching the small broken stones of the
malapais, or grating swiftly over the gravel of the smooth white
roads of the river-bottoms. I hear the rattle of the ivory rings
on the harness of the six-mule team; I see the soldiers marching
on ahead; I see my white tent, so inviting after a long day's
journey.
