Well, We Had To Let The Creature Go, For She Was Of No Use, And
The Spanish Dictionary Was Laid Aside.
I struggled along, fighting against odds; how I ever got well at
all is a wonder, when I think of all the sanitary precautions
taken now-a-days with young mothers and babies.
The Doctor was
ordered away and another one came. I had no advice or help from
any one. Calomel or quinine are the only medicines I remember
taking myself or giving to my child.
But to go back a little. The seventh day after the birth of the
baby, a delegation of several squaws, wives of chiefs, came to
pay me a formal visit. They brought me some finely woven baskets,
and a beautiful pappoose-basket or cradle, such as they carry
their own babies in. This was made of the lightest wood, and
covered with the finest skin of fawn, tanned with birch bark by
their own hands, and embroidered in blue beads; it was their best
work. I admired it, and tried to express to them my thanks. These
squaws took my baby (he was lying beside me on the bed), then,
cooing and chuckling, they looked about the room, until they
found a small pillow, which they laid into the basket-cradle,
then put my baby in, drew the flaps together, and laced him into
it; then stood it up, and laid it down, and laughed again in
their gentle manner, and finally soothed him to sleep. I was
quite touched by the friendliness of it all. They laid the cradle
on the table and departed. Jack went out to bring Major Worth in,
to see the pretty sight, and as the two entered the room, Jack
pointed to the pappoose-basket.
Major Worth tip-toed forward, and gazed into the cradle; he did
not speak for some time; then, in his inimitable way, and half
under his breath, he said, slowly, "Well, I'll be d - d!" This was
all, but when he turned towards the bedside, and came and shook
my hand, his eyes shone with a gentle and tender look.
And so was the new recruit introduced to the Captain of Company
K.
And now there must be a bath-tub for the baby. The cutler
rummaged his entire place, to find something that might do. At
last, he sent me a freshly scoured tub, that looked as if it
might, at no very remote date, have contained salt mackerel
marked "A One." So then, every morning at nine o'clock, our
little half-window was black with the heads of the curious squaws
and bucks, trying to get a glimpse of the fair baby's bath. A
wonderful performance, it appeared to them.
Once a week this room, which was now a nursery combined with
bedroom and living-room, was overhauled by the stalwart Bowen.
The baby was put to sleep and laced securely into the
pappoose-basket. He was then carried into the kitchen, laid on
the dresser, and I sat by with a book or needle-work watching
him, until Bowen had finished the room. On one of these
occasions, I noticed a ledger lying upon one of the shelves. I
looked into it, and imagine my astonishment, when I read: "Aunt
Hepsey's Muffins," "Sarah's Indian Pudding," and on another page,
"Hasty's Lemon Tarts," "Aunt Susan's Method of Cooking a Leg of
Mutton," and "Josie Well's Pressed Calf Liver." Here were my own,
my very own family recipes, copied into Bowen's ledger, in large
illiterate characters; and on the fly-leaf, "Charles Bowen's
Receipt Book." I burst into a good hearty laugh, almost the first
one I had enjoyed since I arrived at Camp Apache.
The long-expected promotion to a first lieutenancy came at about
this time. Jack was assigned to a company which was stationed at
Camp MacDowell, but his departure for the new post was delayed
until the spring should be more advanced and I should be able to
undertake the long, rough trip with our young child.
The second week in April, my baby just nine weeks old, we began
to pack up. I had gained a little in experience, to be sure, but
I had lost my health and strength. I knew nothing of the care of
a young infant, and depended entirely upon the advice of the Post
Surgeon, who happened at that time to be a young man, much better
versed in the sawing off of soldiers' legs than in the treatment
of young mothers and babies.
The packing up was done under difficulties, and with much help
from our faithful Bowen. It was arranged for Mrs. Bailey, who was
to spend the summer with her parents at Fort Whipple, to make the
trip at the same time, as our road to Camp MacDowell took us
through Fort Whipple. There were provided two ambulances with six
mules each, two baggage-wagons, an escort of six calvarymen fully
armed, and a guide. Lieutenant Bailey was to accompany his wife
on the trip.
I was genuinely sorry to part with Major Worth, but in the
excitement and fatigue of breaking up our home, I had little time
to think of my feelings. My young child absorbed all my time.
Alas! for the ignorance of young women, thrust by circumstances
into such a situation! I had miscalculated my strength, for I had
never known illness in my life, and there was no one to tell me
any better. I reckoned upon my superbly healthy nature to bring
me through. In fact, I did not think much about it; I simply got
ready and went, as soldiers do.
I heard them say that we were not to cross the Mogollon range,
but were to go to the north of it, ford the Colorado Chiquito at
Sunset Crossing, and so on to Camp Verde and Whipple Barracks by
the Stoneman's Lake road. It sounded poetic and pretty. Colorado
Chiquito, Sunset Crossing, and Stoneman's Lake road!
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